Actor R Madhavan has said he consciously avoided competing with Vijay and Ajith Kumar for the kind of roles that define Tamil cinema’s star system, acknowledging that he does not have the kind of talent they possess and that he chose instead to build his career through characters that required him to disappear into roles rather than dominate them.In an old interview with A Tube, Madhavan was direct about where he stands relative to Tamil cinema’s two dominant leading men. “I don’t have the kind of talent that Vijay or Ajith have,” he said. “The whole idea of ‘I don’t have that sort of talent, so let’s create your own mark’ clicked with me. I started getting into my characters and take them seriously,”Madhavan said that committing fully to a character meant he could not move between projects the way commercially driven actors do, jumping from one film to the next with minimal emotional carry-over. “I couldn’t just switch off in between one film and jump into another. Because of that, I missed out on a lot of good films,” he said. “But honestly, I want to build my own career, so that’s how it ended up happening.”Also Read: Madhavan refuses to quit love stories at 55, has a strict on-screen rule against violence‘Was told not to work with Kamal Haasan’In the same conversation, Madhavan revealed that he was warned by multiple people not to work with Kamal Haasan on Anbe Sivam, with the warning being that Kamal would “pressure” him on set. He ignored the advice, took the role and described the experience as one where both actors gave each other’s feedback after rehearsals.“Many people told me not to work with Kamal Haasan. They said that if you work with him, he’ll pressure you on set and all,” Madhavan recalled. “But I didn’t care about that. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and a little bit of bravado is also a blessing.”‘He would ask me for feedback’What Madhavan found on the sets of Anbe Sivam was not the domineering presence he had been warned about. Instead, he described a collaborative dynamic where both actors exchanged feedback, a relationship that is rare in Indian cinema, where the senior star’s word is typically final.Story continues below this ad Kamal Haasan and R Madhavan in Ambe Sivam“Even Kamal sir would come after rehearsal and ask how things went,” Madhavan said. “He’d say, ‘Your first take is better.’ I told him, ‘Let’s go back and do it again.'”Madhavan described the entire experience as transformative. “It felt like going to a university, getting a degree and coming out,” he said.“He is to Tamil cinema what (Amitabh) Bachchan sahab is to Hindi cinema. To discuss the project, I spent the most unforgettable four hours with Kamal ji. For the first three hours, we talked about everything under the sun except the film. We had lunch together. As he talked about his life, work and friends, I realised what made him who he was,” Madhavan told Rediff in 2023.About the actorR Madhavan, born Madhavan Ranganathan, made his Tamil debut with Alaipayuthey, directed by Mani Ratnam, which established him as a romantic lead. He followed it with Minnale, directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, and Anbe Sivam with Kamal Haasan. His Hindi career, which runs parallel to his Tamil filmography, includes Rang De Basanti, 3 Idiots, Tanu Weds Manu and its sequel. He directed, produced and starred in Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, a biographical drama about ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan. His filmography across Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and English spans over 60 films in a career stretching more than 25 years. He is married to Sarita Birje and has a son, Vedaant, who is a national-level swimmer and has represented India in international competitions.