Actor Madhavan responded, with a long message, to the criticism and trolling he was subject to from all sides of the socio-political divide, after he posted pictures on social media of three generations of his family — his father, he and son Vedant after the annual ritual where men change their sacred thread, and another of Vedant tying a rakhi Madhavan’s sister had sent, on his father. In the note, he said he maintains his identity with pride and also respects every other faith, belief and religion. And then, moved on to other things.
??? https://t.co/Imw3SqR2Zb pic.twitter.com/x79cX50aRn
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) August 16, 2019
But, Twitter is still buzzing with anger. While some wonder why he flaunted the sacred thread, calling it casteist, others found things in the photos ‘offensive’. What they saw was the solitary Cross sharing space with Hindu Gods in what looks like the prayer space. They also saw the bottles of liquor in one corner of the photo. A group of people then accused him of everything from forgetting his religion to pandering to liberals. Mercifully, the slightly pragmatic ones stepped in to explain why this was normal.
A user put up a photo of a temple with former President late APJ Abdul Kalam’s face on the gopuram, and said this was his Tamil culture.
Actor Madhavan has always had a very strong fan following, primarily in Tamil Nadu. Many now in their late 30s and early 40s grew up with him as the prevailing matinee crush. His tweets get called out when people think it does not suit him to post political statements, but he’s this far escaped the viciousness of trolls. Half the time, people keep posting ‘then and now’ pictures of the actor, and moon over how he never ages!
Madhavan seems to have gotten back to work, while keyboard warriors wage a war. “At an edit,” he messaged back, when contacted, and later Quote RTd photos that Riteish Deshmukh had posted of his mother, who discovered farming in her 50s. In case, you’d not noticed, Madhavan is an avid terrace gardener, and his home in Mumbai yields cucumber, greens, melons and bottlegourd, among other things.
Harvest from my terrace in Mumbai today. ORGANIC AND SWEEEEEET pic.twitter.com/bLLVjKF91G
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) April 30, 2016
On the work front, the actor is busy giving the finishing touches to his debut directorial Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, based on the life of former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan who was falsely accused of espionage. He’s also part of director Dhilip’s debut Tamil film Maara, co-starring Shraddha Srinath, his Vikram Vedha co-star.
