R.Madhavan - Personal Life

Personal Life

Madhavan's parents are Ranganathan and Saroja. Despite Madhavan's ambition of wanting to join the army, his parents insisted he went to management school and pursue a degree in electronics. After completing the degree, he went on to teach communication and public speaking at workshops around India. At the Maharashtra workshop, he encountered his wife Sarita Birje in 1991, an air hostess, who attended his class. After completing the course, the pair began dating and married in 1999, before Madhavan entered mainstream films. The pair's successful marriage has been covered by the media, with Madhavan citing that advise from his mentor Mani Ratnam was useful. Sarita has worked as a costume designer in a few of Madhavan's films, most notably for Guru En Aalu (2009) when she worked along with Erum Ali, the wife of Madhavan's co-star, Abbas, for their respective husbands. Their first son, Vedant was born in August 2005, which eventually led to relocating towards to the boat-club area in Chennai from Kilpauk. Madhavan's parents lived with him as did his parents-in-law. In 2009, he relocated to Kandivali, Mumbai with his wife and son, as he pursued a career in Hindi films ahead of films in the South Indian industries.

Madhavan, since his debut, has received significant following from female fans. Madhavan has maintained close links with fellow actors in the Hindi and Tamil film industry with his close links with director Mani Ratnam and actors Kamal Haasan, Aamir Khan and Surya. He has also helped out actresses Reemma Sen, Sadha and Nisha Kothari by signing them on for roles in his films, when they were going through a barren spell.

Madhavan took a sabbatical from films from September 2010 announcing an eight-month break from films citing he would take the time off to visit London, go on a European motorcycle ride, lose weight, play golf, take treatment for his knee injury and spend time with family. Though he kept away from starting new projects, during the period he was involved in heavy promotions of two of his releases, Manmadan Ambu and Tanu Weds Manu. He has been a keen golf player, appearing in a celebrity charity event in 2007 and has played alongside actor Amitabh Bachchan and director Mani Ratnam. His experiences flying Cessna planes when he was with National Cadet Corps, also led to a passion for aero-modelling, claiming it justified his decision to pursue a degree in electronics.

R. Madhavan and Huma Qureshi were hosts of the 60th National Film Awards held at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on 3 May 2013, marking the Centenary of Indian Cinema.