Madhavan to play boxer in Laal

5 Jun 2014

R. Madhavan turned 44 on Sunday with a small dinner with selected friends. No cake and candles as his son couldn't be with him. Madhavan has been stationed in Los Angeles for the last 6 months preparing for his next film.

Boxing films are the flavour of the season. While Priyanka Chopra gets ready to wow critics and masses alike with her Mary Kom act in director Omang Kumar's bio-pic, Akshay Kumar and Sidharth Malhotra will play pugilistic siblings in Karan Malhotra's adaptation of the Hollywood film Warriors . Bollywood's newly-found affinity to boxing doesn't end there. The Tamil-Hindi star, in hiding for the last six months, is all set to play a boxer in a Hindi-Tamil bi-lingual on a boxer's life called Laal to be directed a Mani Ratnam's erstwhile assistant Sudha Kongara.

The story is apparently partially inspired by Mohammad Ali's life .

Says a source close to the project, "The director has taken the core of Mohammad Ali's life in the ring and added fictional flourishes to it. Madhavan who has known Sudha from the time he worked with Mani in Alai Payuthe, Kannathil Muttamital and Guru planned and plotted the film together with the director and then took nearly a year off to prepare for his part." Maddy has lost 15 kilos to look like a boxer.

Speaking from Los Angeles on his 44th birthday Maddy said, "It's been a time of a complete physical revamp for me. I've been in LA training and preparing for my part. My entire body structure and body language has changed. I now walk and think like a boxer." Madhavan brought in his birthday on June 1 with his close friends. "It was just small dinner here with close friends, that's all. Unfortunately my wife Sarita and my son Vedant couldn't be here for my birthday. They are joining me later this week. We'll be spending a 3-week holiday together. After the kind of training I've gone through during the past months I think I've earned myself a break." About his longish break from the screen Maddy says, "It is very important for every actor to take that time off to re-invent himself. Otherwise you end up being a parody of yourself. After Vettai in Tamil and Jodi Breakers in Hindi in 2012. I needed time to introspect. I think I am ready to start a new phase in my career."