Quotes from R. Madhavan

I am a south Indian, so I speak Tamil.

I had built my body to look like a boxer, then I lost it completely for 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns.' It was really tough gaining weight, building muscles, and then losing it completely for another film.

I use the Net for a lot of things besides e-mailing. I involve myself in chats with people as part of my research for characters.

I've realised that to make a successful film, you have to be with a unit which is happy and positive from the beginning.

Any story, any screenplay can only happen if the whole unit is professionally working towards it.

A film star is a film star, and you can't take that away. Hence, I don't think about money when I do films, but I will do it for TV like the way I do it for endorsements.

Marital status is not going to affect one's prospects or fan following, for ultimately, talent will prevail. Take Aamir Khan or Shah Rukh Khan, for instance. Actors are mere dream sellers. They cannot become everyone's lover.

Making six-pack abs for no reason doesn't make sense. When you are young, it is possible.

I hail from a small town, Jamshedpur. From childhood, I've been constantly surrounded by people who are not so urban.

I eat before I feel hungry. I know that when you order food or shop on an empty stomach, you always tend to over-eat, over-order, or over-shop. So I always eat slightly before I'm famished.

I got good offers from Bollywood because I can speak Hindi very well.

Whenever you have chemistry on-screen, then you have to be very attracted to the person.

When it comes to filmmaking, we have to deal with ego, anger, and a lot more; barring all these, how the team works towards the outcome matters.

Birds and insects are part of the ecosystem and help in pollination. I don't see any problem in having fruits and vegetables that birds want to eat, as opposed to the perfect shaped tomato that only you can eat and which, by the way, could also be cancerous.

When I listen to scripts, I never ask who my co-star is - instead, I ask about the characters and the producers of the particular venture.

I am not chocolate and definitely not a boy. I am a man, and I have no clue how this image has stuck to me despite all these years. I think, maybe, in spite of trying to shell off my chocolate boy image, love stories excite me, and somehow I land up in such roles.

I studied B.Sc electronics to be an engineer and later did masters in communication and advertising. I loved engineering for what it could accomplish to make our lives easier. But, I realised that it was not my passion.

It is a privilege that women fancy me, but I cannot sustain the chocolate boy image forever. I don't want to end up being known, like the late veteran Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan was, as the king of romance.

There is a difference between being educated and academics.

I was really lucky and blessed to have had the likes of directors such as Mani Ratnam and Rajkumar Hirani in my career.

Oh, I have very limited will power. I wish I could change that. I am working on it, though. I am too easygoing.

It took me 15 years of being in the industry to know that you need makeup and styling when you go out, that you need to have PR.