Unsung heroes make for great cinema. And Madhavan knows that a little too well.

A few years ago, he came up with Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, which told the story of one such hero — Nambi Narayanan, former scientist and aerospace engineer at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). In fact, circumstances forced the actor to turn filmmaker to ensure that his passion project

His latest obsession is another such unsung hero: inventor and industrial pioneer, GD Naidu.

“I love watching and hearing about the extraordinary achievements of ordinary men,” the 56-year-old actor says, as he looks out of his room in a luxury hotel in Chennai, with a bird’s eye view of bustling city roads below.

Forgotten genius

Maddy – as he is called, by both friends and fans – is fascinated by the life and times of Gopalsamy Doraisamy Naidu. “There are great achievers in every field, but the people I find most fascinating are the ones who do what they do without any expectation of recognition during their lifetime. Nambi Narayan did that. GD Naidu was also one such extraordinary individual.”

Directed by Krishnakumar Ramkumar and produced by Varghese Moolan Pictures, G.D.N – set to release on August 7 – will unveil the genius of GD Naidu, widely regarded as the ‘Edison of India’. In fact, upon his passing in 1974, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai remarked, “Our society did not make use of GD Naidu’s intellect. His inventions are a very valuable resource to society.”

Annadurai must have been referring to his inventions such as the vote recording machine, radio clock and the electric razor, among others, but all these will only form a part of Madhavan’s current biopic on the man. “All that has been written and known about him was a fraction of what he was. What he has done for Coimbatore, India and society is unsung, all hidden behind the fact that the media and the British portrayed him in a certain manner and therefore relegated him to a corner of the history book. In fact, the fight in this film is to make his story a part of the syllabus, at least in Tamil Nadu,” he states, adding, “What Uber or Bill Gates has done today is what GD Naidu thought of many decades ago.”

Inside the transformation

Sporting a bald, powerful look with thick glasses in one of the posters of the film, Madhavan’s transformation for G.D.N might take some by surprise or even shock. The portions where he had to play the older version of Naidu involved over three hours of make-up. “He wore very thick-set glasses. To wear that and do those sequences was tough because I could barely see. If you have to walk with it, it becomes more difficult. So, I had to map it in my mind and walk, without bumping into furniture. To keep all that in mind and know that I have to come across as somebody real was a test.”

If the physical transformation presented challenges, getting into Naidu’s mindspace was relatively easy for the actor who has always shown an inclination towards the sciences. “I love engineering. In fact, my friend, Aravind Kamalanathan – who is close to GDN’s family and brought this subject to me – is an engineering freak too. We tried our hand at aeromodelling way back in the early 2000s....”

The other unique process that the makers of G.D.N adopted was preparing an almost two-hour audiobook, filled with the dialogues of all characters and the background music. “The director (Krishnakumar Ramakumar) did that,” admits Madhavan, “He made a podcast for the entire film that showed his commitment and research to the story. Everything was so vivid that I knew exactly what the film would finally look like.”

The actor does not believe that every biopic needs to be pitched in terms of realism. “My Nambi: The Rocketry Effect was ultra realistic. But G.D.N will have an entertaining Raju Hirani-kind of storytelling, because the man’s life renders itself to a lot of commercial sequences that we have enhanced.”

Revisiting Run

Madhavan is juggling multiple projects and taking his craft seriously today. But way back in the early 2000s, he was described as the chocolate boy when he burst into Tamil films with Mani Ratnam’s Alaipayuthe, a debut that he looks back today with a lot of gratitude. If films like Alaipayuthe and Minnale gave him a big launchpad, action film Run (2002) – which recently re-released in theatres – showed him in a different light. “It was a turning point in my career,” he points out, “After having played lover-boy roles, no one expected me to wallop the bad guys.”

Run features an iconic shutter fight sequence, where Madhavan seemingly runs away from the baddies, only to close the shutters of a subway and then take them on, in a moment that Tamil film audiences continue to celebrate till today. “I said yes to the film for that one sequence. Director Linguswamy’s vision was spectacular. He told me: when you hit the first bad guy, avan settha eli maari vizhanum (he should fall down like a dead rat). That’s exactly how the guy fell. We created a subway set specially for that because the cameraman (Jeeva sir) wanted to place the camera above the roof, so that we can see the guy I hit fall down and not move an inch. Just before the film’s release, we had a special show that was attended by directors Mani Ratnam and Gautham Menon, who looked at me very differently at the interval because they hadn’t attributed this possibility in me.”

He does not intentionally re-watch his earlier work – unless they come on when he switches channels on the TV or they surface while sifting through OTT platforms – but when he does, Maddy always believes he could have done things better. “In Aayutha Ezhuthu, I wish I had worked more on my accent to make it sound like a guy from that background. I wish my Tamil was better in Kannathil Muthamittal. There is always a hardened critic inside me looking at my work and feeling that it was not enough. It is probably the predominant feeling of every actor who is married to his job,” he says.

Even as Madhavan keenly awaits the response to G.D.N, he is looking forward to working on more stories that he can relate to. Up next, is Netflix OTT series Legacy and a film titled Circle with Kangana Ranaut that has been directed by Vijay. There is also a film titled Bridge with filmmaker Nidhi. “I know my limitations, but I also know what makes me tick. I know what my life experiences can support in terms of the character I chose to play. It could be comedy, or the defence sector, or sport, or even teaching... which have all been part of my life experiences. I look for stories that I relate to, bite deeply into it and live with it for months.”

Why Maddy loves Chennai

Published - August 04, 2026 04:18 pm IST