R. Madhavan Biography :
Born: June 1, 1970
Age : 44
Birthplace : Jamshedpur
Height: 1.77 m
Spouse: Sarita Birje (m. 1999)
Children: Vedant Madhavan
Ranganathan Madhavan is a popular actor, filmmaker and TV host apart from being a writer. He was born in Jamshedpur in a Tamil family in a non filmy background. His father worked in Tata Steel, while mother worked for Bank Of India as manager. He did his engineering in Electronic from Kolhapur, Maharashtra. During his engineering he was selected in an exchange program for Stettler, Alberta. During his college years, he was very much active in extra-curricular activities like military training and was among the most outstanding cadet in NCC in Maharashtra, which even gave him the chance to visit England for one of its camps. For this honor, he got the chance to be trained at Royal Army, Air Force and Navy. He was supposed to join the Indian Army, however, he falls short of age and eyesight, which compelled him to teach at Personality Development academies.
As he was enjoying his teaching job, Madhavan shifted to Mumbai to join Kishinchand Chellaram College wherein he completed his masters in Public Speaking. During his PG, he was seen participating in Indian Championship for Public Speaking in Tokyo at the Young Businessmen Conference in the year 1992. During his stay in Mumbai, he made his portfolio and submitted to a modeling agency, which started his career in the glam world. In his early days, he was seen doing a couple of ads till he was called by Mani Ratnam for his Tamil Film. However, he was rejected for being young for the character. This made him return to Bombay and entered in small screen industry doing a TV series called Yule Love Stories. He then did a number of TV serials, which include Banegi Apni Baat, Tol Mol Ke Bol, Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum, Sea Hawks, etc.
R Madhavan career in Bollywood started with the film called Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi wherein he appeared in an uncredited role. In the year 1997, he got the chance to work in Fred Olen Ray’s film called Inferno with Don Wilson. His first south Indian movie came with Shanti Shanti Shanti. He then did the film Akeli. He went unnoticed since most of these early films were average grossers till he got his film Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein opposite Dia Mirza. The movie was a big hit and he bagged the Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male and nominated for Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut in 2001. His next Hindi movie venture was Dil Vil Pyar Vyar. He then did a number of south of Indian films, while in Bollywood he had just few movies, which included Ramji Londonwale, Mumbai Meri Jaan, 13B, Guru, Sikandar, Rang De Basanti, 3 Idiots and Teen Patti.
Some of his popular recent movies include Tanu Weds Manu I and its sequel, Jodi Breaker, etc. His upcoming movie include Saala Khadoos, which is into post production phase, while one Tamil movie called Irudhi Suttru, while the English movie – Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D is delayed. Apart from acting and writing scripts, he is also active in social work and humanitarian causes. He endorses PETA and was voted as the cutest male vegetarian by the same group. Apart from PETA, he also supported a Chennai based charitable group called The Banyan and raised funds for the same. He also participated in various Aids awareness programmes for different groups. He and his group from 3 Idiots donated 2.5 million for a school renovation in Leh, which was damaged due to the floods.
As far as her personal life is concerned, he is married to Sarita Birje whom he met when he used to take workshops and seminars on public speaking all around India. The couple then dated and married in 1999 much before he entered stardom. The couple has a son called Vedant who was born in 2005. His wife also worked as costume designer in some of his movies. In 2010 September, he took his eight month break from films and went to London to have good time trying European motorcycle ride, play golf, lose weight and get treatment for his knee injury along with spending some quality time with his family. Though he didn’t accept any new project but was seen involved in film promotions for movies like Tanu Weds Manu and Manmadan Ambu. He was also seen flying Cessna Planes during his days of NCC and carried out aero modeling activities justifying his degree of Electronic Engineering.
