Happy Birthday, R. Madhavan: A look at the roles that made us laugh, cry, and cheer!

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R. Madhavan is the embodiment of versatility in Indian cinema. From romantic leads to morally grey figures, from everyman protagonists to inspiring mentors, R. Madhavan’s characters resonate because he brings depth, vulnerability, and an innate charm to each role. 1. Rehnaa Hai Tere Dil Mein- Maddy Maddy! The guy who made an entire generation fall in love with love. He was charming, impulsive, and had that boyish grin that could launch a thousand ships. Maddy wasn’t just a character — he was the blueprint for every college romance fantasy in the early 2000s. Admit it: You too have lip-synced to 'Zara Zara' at least once in your life.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Amazon Music India (@amazonmusicin) 2. Shaitaan- Vanraj Kashyap Who knew Maddy had a sinister side? In Shaitaan, he flips the nice-guy script and goes full dark mode as Vanraj Kashyap. Creepy? Yes. Unpredictable? Absolutely. Memorable? Oh, you bet. This is Madhavan proving he can be as ter...
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‘It’s like Game of Thrones!’ The return of India’s ancient superhero fantasy epic

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In the 1980s, Peter Brook’s adaptation of The Mahabharata enchanted audiences on stage and screen. As Brook’s son presents a restored print at the Venice film festival, he and his team discuss the work’s extraordinary journey

When Antonin Stahly was nine years old, his mother took him to the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris to see a production of the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata, which translates loosely as “the great story of mankind”. More than 20 actors from 16 countries performed on a stage steeped in red earth and scarred by a water-filled trench; fire also played a leading role. Directed by Peter Brook, whom the RSC founder Peter Hall called “the greatest innovator of his generation”, and adapted by Luis Buñuel’s former co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière, this spectacular Mahabharata weighed in at nine hours, plus intervals. Even at that length, it represented a massive compression of its source text, which runs to 1.8m words. Brook and Carrière’s version has been likened to summarising the Bible in 40 minutes.

Audiences could devour The Mahabharata in three parts over successive evenings or as an all-day weekend marathon; in some outdoor venues, such as the limestone quarry in Avignon where the production premiered in 1985, it began at dusk and climaxed just as the dawn sun lit up the sky. Stahly saw it in a single noon-to-midnight sitting. “It was like a superhero fantasy,” he says, still sounding awestruck. “It had Bhima, the strongest man on Earth, and Bhishma, who has the power to live for ever. Arjuna was the best warrior. And then there were all the gods. It was amazing for me, because I’m half Indian, but I wasn’t brought up in an Indian context.”

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