Actor R. Madhavan is set to return to the romance genre with Aap Jaisa Koi, a romantic drama alongside Fatima Sana Shaikh, directed by Vivek Soni and produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment. In an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Madhavan opened up about his decision to take on this project, explaining the importance of age-appropriate casting and his discomfort with playing younger characters in the past, notably in the iconic 3 Idiots.
R Madhavan reveals “sh**ting bricks” for playing college student in 3 Idiots at 40; speaks on doing age-appropriate roles
Madhavan, who plays a 48-year-old Sanskrit professor opposite Shaikh’s 28-year-old French professor in Aap Jaisa Koi, explained what drew him to the film. “I chose Aap Jaisa Koi because it’s about age-appropriate casting. I’m playing a 48-year-old guy in it, who for some strange reason gets into a relationship with a 28-year-old girl. Whether that sort of love is justified or not and whether it’s workable or not is the question we’ll be exploring in the film,” he said.
Reflecting on his career, Madhavan expressed unease with roles that require him to downplay his age, a practice he now finds outdated. “I’m getting to play my age in the film, which is why I agreed to do the film, so that it’s not cringey for me either. To romance a 28-year-old girl and to believe that both the characters is hum-umar ke log is a bit too much for everybody,” he stated, underscoring his commitment to authenticity. He further critiqued the industry’s past tendencies, pointing to Hollywood’s shift away from such portrayals: “Even Hollywood doesn’t accept that anymore. There’s a complete disregard for two romantically involved characters with a big age difference. They don’t let a 50-year-old guy behave like a teenager and do all those teenage things. It’s cringe.”
Madhavan’s discomfort with age-inappropriate roles harks back to his experience filming 3 Idiots, the 2009 Rajkumar Hirani-directed blockbuster where he, Aamir Khan, and Sharman Joshi played college students despite being in their 30s and 40s. Recalling the anxiety of portraying an 18-year-old at 40, Madhavan admitted, “I was sh**ting bricks when I was doing 3 Idiots as I was 40 years old at that time. Oh my God! It’s a miracle that we passed off as college students.” He shared a humorous anecdote from the set that eased his concerns: “But the funny part was when we went to the college and got into our attires, we were looking younger than the actual students there.”
Speaking of the work front, Madhavan is currently seen in Kesari Chapter 2.
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