R. Madhavan

Ranganathan Madhavan (born 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director who predominantly works in Tamil and Hindi cinema. He has won one National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards South, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and five SIIMA Awards. As of 2023, Madhavan is the President of FTII, Pune.

Madhavan attained his first break in Tamil cinema with Mani Ratnam's romantic drama Alai Payuthey (2000) and followed it with romantic roles in Gautham Vasudev Menon's directorial debut Minnale (2001) and Madras Talkies' Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001). He had major commercial successes in Run (2002), Thambi (2006) and Rendu (2006) and gained praise for his performances in Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Anbe Sivam (2003), Nala Damayanthi (2003) and Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004). Towards the late-2000s, Madhavan inclined to Hindi films with pivotal roles in three highly successful productions: the patriotic Rang De Basanti (2006), Mani Ratnam's biopic Guru (2007) and the comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), which went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the time of its release. Simultaneously, he continued to appear in Tamil films like Evano Oruvan (2007) and Yavarum Nalam (2009).

After delivering two box-office hits with Tanu Weds Manu (2011) and Vettai (2012), Madhavan took an acting break for 3 years and bounced back in 2015. His comeback films – the romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015), the bilingual sports-drama Irudhi Suttru (2016) and the crime film Vikram Vedha (2017) all became critical and commercial successes. His portrayal of a boorish boxing coach in Irudhi Suttru fetched him Best Actor awards at the Filmfare, IIFA and SIIMA ceremonies. Madhavan made his directorial debut in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (2022), in which he played the Indian rocket scientist Nambi Narayanan, which achieved universal acclaim and honours including the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. He has since played a negative role in the highly successful supernatural thriller Shaitaan (2024).

In addition to his acting career, Madhavan has worked as a writer on his films, hosted television programs and has been a prominent celebrity endorser for brands and products. He has also worked as a film producer, first making Evano Oruvan with Leukos Films, before setting up Tricolour Films to produce Saala Khadoos (2016). Madhavan is noted for his philanthropic activities and promotes various causes such as environment, health, and education. He is particularly vocal about the protection of animals and was awarded PETA's Person of the Year recognition in 2011. In 2021, he was conferred the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by D. Y. Patil Education Society, Kolhapur, for his contribution to arts and cinema.

Madhavan was born on 1 June 1970 in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India, to a Tamil Brahmin family. His father, Ranganathan, was a management executive in Tata Steel and his mother, Saroja, was a manager in the Bank of India. His younger sister, Devika, is a software engineer. He had a Tamil-speaking upbringing in Jharkhand. Madhavan did his schooling from D.B.M.S. English School Jamshedpur.

In 1988, Madhavan gained a scholarship to represent India as a cultural ambassador from Rajaram College, Kolhapur and spent a year in Stettler, Alberta, Canada, as part of an exchange program with Rotary International. He returned to Kolhapur and completed his education, graduating with a BSc in Electronics. During his college years, Madhavan became actively involved in extra-curricular military training, and at 22, he was recognised as among the leading NCC cadets in Maharashtra, which allowed him to make a trip with seven others as NCC cadets to England. As a result of this opportunity, he received training with the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, which he had, at a point, considered joining. However he missed the age cut-off by six months and was subsequently unable to join the program. After he lost out on the place, he began teaching courses on public speaking and personality development skills in Kolhapur, and the satisfaction he gained through teaching, prompted him to pursue a post-graduation in public speaking at Kishinchand Chellaram College in Mumbai. During the period, he also won the Indian Championship for Public Speaking and subsequently represented India at the Young Businessmen Conference in Tokyo, Japan in 1992. During his stint in Mumbai, he opted to create a portfolio and submit it to a modelling agency in order to gain more income to set up an office.

Prior to his film career, Madhavan was spotted by a television executive while out walking in Lokhandwala in Mumbai, and was recruited to feature in Hindi television serials, appearing as a crook in his first venture Yule Love Story (1993). He appeared in leading roles in Zee TV's Banegi Apni Baat (1993) and Ghar Jamai, while he gained further popularity portraying the character of Shekhar in Saaya. He also went on to act as Lt. Shammi in Aarohan (The Ascent), as a ship's captain in Sea Hawks, as a convict in Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum and worked as a television anchor in Tol Mol Ke Bol among other television appearances. Madhavan appeared in a television series called A Mouthful of Sky in 1995, featuring in the role of an actor. He also appeared in an episode titled Virasat of the Hindi horror television show Aahat. His first appearance in a feature film role came through a small role in Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin (1996), where he portrayed a singer in a bar. In early 1996, Madhavan worked on a sandalwood talc advertisement directed by Santosh Sivan, who later recommended him to Mani Ratnam to take part in a screen test for a role in Iruvar (1997). Madhavan was auditioned for the leading role of Tamizhselvan among several other more established actors, but Mani Ratnam eventually left him out of the project citing that he thought his "eyes looked too young" for a senior role.

In 1997, Madhavan appeared in a supporting role as an Indian police officer in Fred Olen Ray's English film, Inferno, which was shot in India. His first chance in Indian cinema came in the form of Shanti Shanti Shanti (1998), a Kannada film, in which he appeared as a carefree youngster alongside actor Abbas. However, the film failed to make an impact and went unnoticed at the box office. During the period, Hindi film director Vinod Pandey launched Madhavan as a Bollywood hero, with a project titled Akeli, however the film was shelved before the production process had been completed.