After his terrifying turn as the larger-than-life eponymous character in Vikas Bahl’s supernatural horror movie, Shaitaan, last year, R Madhavan is back and this time he is the ‘Common Man’.  

In Ashwni Dhir’s Hisaab Barabar (streaming on ZEE5 Global) he plays Radhe Mohan Sharma, an honest and meticulous Indian Railways’ ticket checker, who after accidentally stumbling upon some discrepancies in a bank account, goes on to uncover a corporate bank's full-blown billion-dollar scam, eventually getting pitted against the entire system. It is the quintessential story of the common man standing up against institutional fraud. Although one has seen him play a version of the ‘common man’ in Tanu Weds Manu, in Hisaab Barabar Madhavan seamlessly becomes the middle-aged working-class protagonist, shedding every bit of his star persona.  

Working simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi cinema, Madhavan was one of the rare few true pan-Indian star, much before it was even a thing. He first charmed the nation in the ’90s with his cutesy smile in TV shows like Ghar Jamai, Sea Hawks, and Saaya, and later became a household name with movies like Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, 3 Idiots, Rang De Basanti, and Tanu Weds Manu. In the last few years, he has gone on to establish his versatility as an actor with a wide-ranging selection of movies and shows that include the likes of Maara, Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, Decoupled, The Railway Men, and Breathe. We caught up with the actor to talk about his experience of stepping into the shoes of the new-age Common Man. 

In Conversation with R Madhavan:

Q. Hisaab Barabar is an unusual story. What made you say yes to it? 

R Madhavan: I used to get a lot of messages about these financial frauds happening online and otherwise but I never understood what exactly was going on. But the news of such incidents bothered me. When Mr [Ashwani] Dhir came to me with the story and narrated it, I realised that scams have become rampant and it is a common issue almost everyone is facing these days. Even I don’t know what amounts the banks are charging me and for what purpose. I instantly related with the story and wanted to make it. 

Q. There is a lot of number crunching in the movie. Did you ever think that it might get too geeky for the general audience? 

The public is very smart. They watch much more geekier Hollywood films and they patronise it. So, I think you should give them the credit. Sometimes, the makers and sometimes the reviewers are not as cued in–the audience is far smarter than we credit them with.  

Q. According to you, what is the discreet charm of the ‘common man’? 

The best thing about the common man is that it doesn't matter what background, what religion, what caste, what system he comes from. Their attributes are exactly the same.  All he wants to do is to be left alone.  

He wants to get into a good job and ensure that his family’s medical and physical needs are met—he wants to make sure his children are educated, that he is able to get his daughter married off without any loan, that his children get better jobs than him and settle down and makes him proud. That's all he dreams of. He doesn't really actually bother about who's ruling him, the political situation is, or where the world is heading to. If his immediate environment is fine, he is okay. But when someone starts interfering with his basic requirement and basic dreams. He's capable of overthrowing huge “power centres” around the world. That's how it started off in Rome. 

Q. When today we have such a powerful tool as social media to our disposal, why do you think that the Common Man’s angst and their issues are not finding a voice?  

The algorithm in our social media ends up showing us only what we want. So, if a video of a puppy shows up on your feed and you like it, the algorithm will start showing you more of similar content. What is being shown in your social media is a reflection of who you are and what you like.  

The social media is anything but what you imagine it to be. Be it the common man or the spiritual man or the religious man or the professional man—the kind of videos that they follow is markedly different from what we imagine them to be following.  Look at the superstar status of podcasters in the country today.  

People around the world actually watch them and they're making so much money. Their content is so relevant; they're able to bring around social change.  

We are not seeing the common man in Bollywood because we want glamour. But go to Nagpur, go to Satara, go to Kolhapur, there people are watching videos made by their contemporaries. They are watching podcasts. They are making their own reels and circulating those around. They are very much cued in right now. In fact, he's far more empowered than we imagine him to be. So, the presence of the ‘common man’ is very much on the social media, it is just that don’t show up on our timelines.   

Q. Do you think that even when he [the common man] makes that rare appearance in our movies, there are usually the privileged class’s version of him? 

Not in my case for sure, because we made Tanu Weds Manu. It was very grounded.  I think when you make a story, right, you want to make it about an uncommon man—a common man with uncommon abilities is what creates a character that is aspirational and watchable. If I have to do a documentary on the common man and his miseries, nobody will watch it. But, instead of the ‘Common Man’ if I show the ‘Angry Young Man’ like Amitabh Bachchan in the late ’70s and early ’80s, then he's a common man who's empowered. But over the years, the empowerment has become different—from being a mass leader and fighting the bad guys, he has now become tech savvy, which is a different kind of empowerment. Now that is the new common man. But we don’t see him in our movies because we are still stuck in old kind of storytelling. I think right now, even Tanu Weds Manu would seem a little bit old—the storytellers need to keep up with the society and transform themselves along with the society that is changing at a much faster rate than ever before. That is when we get to see the kind of stories you're talking about.   
 

Q. The Angry Young Man rose in the 1970s from the socio-economic context of that time. Is TC Radhe Mohan in that space where the Common Man meets the Angry Young Man in contemporary context? 

The society, from the days of the origin of the ‘angry young man’ to today has changed dramatically.  In those days, when someone did something heroic—which the ‘angry young man’ did—you would only get to hear a second or third-hand version of it. Most likely you would learn about it from the newspapers. But today everything is telecast live—people will promptly make a video of the ‘angry young man’ doing the ‘angry young man’ things and put it on social media, and then the ‘angry young man’ would have to face the legal consequences of his actions. Today the ‘angry young man’ needs to be aware of the legal side of things. That is now the limitations of the ‘angry young man’, which is very good for the society—he knows he has to stand up for himself and for the society, he knows he has much more power, but at same time, he is aware that he is being scrutinised with far more intensity than ever before. So, we're giving rise to a very new breed of common man. 

Q. Do you think the mass hero of Pan-Indian cinema today is a version of him?  

I think it's just a flavour of the season.  You know, they want to go back to good old days and, anything that is slightly in the opposite direction of where society is heading, always finds appeal among the common man for a bit. But they eventually settle for what is good old storytelling. I don't think, uh, they're here to stay.   
 

Q. Do you think the nostalgia is becoming a crutch for filmmakers at some point where we are not exploring newer storytelling but going back to the old and time-tested formula and looking for a hit?  

I don't think the word for that is nostalgia. I think the word for that is ignorance and becoming irrelevant.  You have to understand what the common Indian feels right now around the world. In order to make a story for him, it requires highly evolved storytellers. Those that are incapable of doing that would probably make and remake the good old stories and hope that those will work. But I don’t think that is going to be a very big, and long lasting, type of consumption.   

Q. Did the actor who won hearts as Preet in Sea Hawks ever imagine then that he would have such long and illustrious career and would play characters like a Radhe or a Vanraj Kashyap?  

So, I never expected to last this much in the industry in the first place. I am not a trained actor… I do as it comes. So, masti ke liye woH bhi kar liya tha, masti ke liye yeh bhi kar liya (I did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, all for my own amusement).  I'm still here trying to do my crazy stuff, and I'm very grateful to God for that.