Despite massive commercial success, Aditya Dhar’s ‘Dhurandhar’ and its sequel ‘Dhurandhar: The Revenge’ sparked fierce debate, with critics labelling the action thrillers as pro-government propaganda that allegedly attempted to whitewash the establishment’s missteps.
Responding to the negative reactions, R Madhavan, who played a pivotal role in the film, questioned why it is wrong to be seen as Indian.
“I don’t understand how being an Indian can be seen as a wrong thing. What does it mean by ‘being overly Indian’? I don’t know. Is it not okay to show myself as being ‘too Indian’? I don’t know. That’s not my conditioning; I showed that. This is not even a political statement. Dhurandhar was based in Pakistan. Good and bad things happen there as well, just as much as they do in India. So, I don’t understand what the ‘propaganda’ in it is,” Madhavan shared.
Talking about his role in his directorial debut, ‘Rocketry: The Nambi Effect’, the actor stated: “In Nambi sir’s (Nambi Narayanan) case, I only showed what happened in his life. How can I be honest with the story if I am afraid to show who he really is? He is a person who goes to the temple. GD Naidu (inventor and engineer), on the other hand, is a nastik (atheist).”
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“So, we can’t show such things in the movie. I have to be true to that character. Because of that, one can’t say that I don’t believe in God or vice versa. I am an actor, and my job is to portray things as they are. My personal opinion is that I want to enhance all the good things about India. That cannot be a crime,” the actor quipped.
The actor shared that he was raised from a young age to put the nation first and always prioritise what one can contribute to the country. “If you look at my social media posts or interviews, you can see that I have never spoken ill of any political party, politician, or leader,” he shared.
Explaining how he filters out online noise from genuine feedback, Madhavan shared: “Look at their comment first, and then find out when they created their account, and how many followers they have. Through these steps, one can easily figure out if it’s a bot or a paid account.”
On the work front, Madhavan’s recent film ‘GDN’ is currently running in theatres. Directed by Krishnakumar Ramakumar, it is a biopic of inventor and engineer GD Naidu. Alongside Madhavan, the film also features Sathyaraj, Jayaram, Priyamani and Dushara Vijayan in other prominent roles.