Maddy scores top marks!

All geared for 3 Idiots��������� US-tour and attending the Sundance Festival, R Madhavan warms up to TOI over a cuppa coffee and steaming hot pongal...
He���������s passionate about aero-modelling and quite a pro at teeing off. He can dismantle a gun in seconds and reassemble it even quicker. He���������s flown a Cessna and can raise dust with his newly acquired super macho bike.He can challenge you to a game of basketball and beat you at badminton. That���������s not all. He���������s got more aces up his impressively-sculpted sleeve: he���������s truly a wiz with card tricks. Maddy the twinkle-eyed actor lays his cards on the table...
3 Idiots...������������
This is what one would call a cyclonic hit. The film has driven a spear through the hearts of parents who have, unwittingly or otherwise, forced their ambitions on their children. It���������s about time our education system encouraged the pursuit of excellence rather than have students in a tizzy over grades and marks.
You���������ve made history...
This has been a life-transforming experience. When I got this SMS ���������Hey, Maddy, I want to meet you��������� from director Raju Hirani, I���������d no idea what to expect. Once he finished reading out the script, I started laughing because I wasn���������t sure if I���������d fit.������ I asked for a screen test, to which he relented after much persuasion. I chose the scene where I decide to tell my father about my career move. My performance moved Hirani to tears. All I���������d really done was to go back to the time in my life when a similar scene had played out between my father and I.������
Your look is very credible...
I just had to rewind to my engineering days, and recall some typical mannerisms of mine like the chuckle in my laughter, the floppiness in my bearing, the slouch in my posture, the careless hair and the mischief in my eyes.
You���������ve expressed interest in 3 Idiots��������� Tamil remake...
No way am I ever going to be a part of it. History can���������t be recreated.
Not even if you were offered a bomb?
Please print the question just this way so that I can say for once and for all that I���������ve never worked for money.
And never will. ������
All Izz Well...������
All Izz Well is an immensely feel-good mantra. We had this unbelievable experience in Indore when a massive crowd broke out in unison with cries of All Izz Well the minute Aamir Khan took the mike and started... Jab life ho out of control...������ ������
Your Kollywood equation....������
I felt truly honoured and humbled when some top Tamil film heroes told me that I should retire now so that they could catch up with me in terms of what I have achieved. I���������ll definitely do more Tamil films. I���������d love for Kollywood to try something different, maybe even radical. It needs to look beyond formulae, markets, pricing and recovery. Audiences are willing to embrace new stories provided they���������re told well.
Why don���������t we hear of your romantic liaIsons?������
Of course, I am attracted to women and, yes, the attraction is physical. We are not cauliflowers or brinjals, so there has to be chemistry. But for me, this chemistry is consummated, so to speak, on the sets of the film.������ Beyond that, it dries up. There���������s no more mystique or allure left. I am no saint, but presently, my priorities do not lie below my waist. ������
On working with Ben Kingsley...
When Ben Kingsley told me that he loved my movies, I went straight to heaven. I am in this industry because of him and Kamal Haasan. I can never forget the look in Ben���������s eyes when he gets thrown out of the train in Gandhi.
Future...
I would love to essay the role of a warrior, say someone like Mangal Pandey. I want to work with Shimit Amin, Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, Goutham Menon, Linguswamy and S P Jananathan. I wish there���������s some enterprising and intrepid director or producer out there who can get Kollywood heroes like Vijay Ajith, Suriya and myself in some multi-hero film plot.������