Unlike other star kids, actor R Madhavan and his wife Sarita Birje’s son Vedaant Madhavan decided to choose the swimming for his career path. He is almost 20 now, and is a national-level freestyle swimmer, who has won several medals for India. In fact, Madhavan and his family had relocated to Dubai during Covid-19 pandemic, to support Vedaant’s swimming career and training. In an interview from last year, the actor had rated himself 6 on 10 as a parent. He also opened up about his desire to keep Vedaant away from the ‘passing phase’ of recognition.During a conversation with The Hindu, he recalled his wife’s decision to move to Dubai and said, “It was an essential decision taken at the right minute because Vedaant was going through his growth spurt as a teenager. Not having a pool to swim would have been the end of his international swimming career. So, Sarita and I were very hassled because all the pools in Bombay, even India, were closed.”His son Vedaant has already won a silver medal for India at the Asian Age Group Swimming Championship at the time. The actor shared that the shift to another country was important for his swimming career. “At the same time, countries like Germany, France, and China had opened up their swimming pools, quarantined them off, and made it a Covid free zone. They were asking the students to stay there for months together and train. Some of them broke the world record during the Covid period. It was something that Vedaant couldn’t afford to miss out on.”Madhavan continued, “So, when we came to know that Dubai was open for swimming and people were conducting classes under strict supervision. Sarita just upped and left. I followed her, and it was a good decision because Vedaant excelled after that. The Indian team was training there as well.”ALSO READ | Madhavan on why he never cheated on wife Sarita: ‘I’m a darpok Madrasi middle-class man’When asked about the rating he would give himself as a parent. “I think about 6 on 10. There are things that I want to do as a father but I am unable to do because of my profession. And, my wife is a much more hands-on parent than I am. I do the philosophical and guidance part of telling Vedaant what has to be done. But at the same time, both of us are also very nervous because he has attained recognition to an extent that it maybe disproportional to his achievement till date and at a much younger age,” he said.Madhavan further added that both him and his wife Sarita want Vedaant to focus on his personal goals, instead of getting deviated by the public attention. “So, I am not worried about whether he will make it bigger or not, I am more worried about whether he has the smartness to understand that this recognition will soon fade. One has to take that as a passing phase and earn all the other accolades that he has in mind and then make his own name,” he concluded.Story continues below this adEarlier, during Ranveer Allahbadia’s podcast, he had said that Vedaant’s medals and achievements are more known because he is an actor’s son. “Yes, I am not going to take away from what he has achieved. He’s done what it takes to get the medals that he’s got. Being a celebrity’s child is not easy. He’s going to get a lot more attention than most of his friends, who might have achieved greater success at the same age as Vedaant. So, we do our best to try to promote the other guys as well. He isn’t the best in the country, but he’s definitely an actor’s child who has managed to create a national record,” he expressed.R Madhavan and Sarita Birje tied got married in 1999, after being in a relationship for nearly eight years. After 6 years of marriage, they got blessed with their first child, son Vedaant, in 2005.Meanwhile, on the work front, Madhavan was last seen in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar franchise, which earned over Rs 3000 crore at the global box office. The actor will start shooting for Tanu Weds Manu 3 with Kangana Ranaut, this year.