MADHU

MADHU - Film Actor

Madhavan Nair commonly known by his stage name Madhu was born on 23 September 1933 at Gourishapattom, Trivandrum. His father, R. Parameswaran Pillai, was the Mayor of Trivandrum. He has four siblings.

He started his career as a Hindi lecturer in S T Hindu College, Nagercoil. During that time he chanced upon the a newspaper advertisement inviting applications for the National School of Drama Course. While studying at NSD, he became acquainted with Ramu Karyat, who offered him a role in his forthcoming film Moodupadam. After completing the course, Madhu went to Chennai to screen test for Karyat's film. While there, in 1963, he was offered a role in N N Pisharody's film, Ninamaninja Kalpadukal and this became his debut.

He had expressed all facets of life through his various acting roles. Perhaps his most notable role was in Karyat's Chemmeen, which won the President's Gold Medal. At the time it was common for a Malayali person to render the dialogs (in the movie) of Pareekkutty. Madhu entered Malayalam cinema at a time when lead roles were dominated by actors like Prem Naseer and Sathyan and created a niche for himself. One of the early films of his career was Bhargavi Nilayam, a suspense movie. One of the most common leading co-stars that Madhu worked with, particularly after 1975 was the multi-talented actress Srividya.

He later worked as a producer, director and storywriter. In an acting career spanning four decades, Madhu acted in over 300 films. His first movie as a director is Priya released in 1970, in which he played the role of villain. 

Although he was a big star in commercial film, he was generous enough to act in parallel movies. He acted in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Swayamvaram, P. N. Menon's Olavum Theeravum etc.

Madhu's directorial venture Priya was a trend setter in Malayalam. In this movie he experimented with the main character playing an anti-hero. Madhu later directed about 14 films. He was the owner of once-renowned Uma studio. Madhu produced a movie Mini in 1995, which got National Award.

Madhu also acted in the Hindi film Saat Hindustani, which was the debut movie of the Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Madhu has also done a couple of Tamil films, as Rajinikanth's father in Dharma Dorai and the 2007 release Oru Ponnu Oru Paiyan.

He was awarded the Padma Shri in the year 2013.

He has also received the Kerala State Film Award for Lifetime Achiement in the year 2004 from the Government of Kerala.