R Madhavan recalled a humorous incident from the filming of “3 Idiots,” where he found himself in an unusual state for a particular scene. According to him, he was under the influence of alcohol on set, following a suggestion from Aamir Khan, the lead actor of the movie.
R Madhavan disclosed in an interview that Aamir proposed the notion that it’s easier to portray sobriety when intoxicated rather than the reverse.
Madhavan affirmed during a podcast that all three principal actors imbibed alcohol during the scene.
He elaborated that Aamir’s strategy for scenes involving inebriation was not to feign drunkenness but to consume alcohol and portray normal behavior.
The plan was to commence drinking by 8:00 for a 9:00 shoot, aiming to consume a few drinks by 8:30-8:45. Madhavan explained,
“So, Aamir’s idea was that in drunk scenes, you should never act like you’re drunk. You should drink and act like you’re normal. Basically, we wanted to shoot at 9, so Aamir made a plan. By 8 we’d start drinking; by 8:30-8:45 we’d have had our three-four pegs. But what happened is that the lighting conked off, so at 8:30 they said another two hours left. So, we wanted to maintain the same level of alcohol in our blood, except we didn’t realize that the cold Bangalore air would have a completely different impact on our intoxication. By the time the shot came, we thought we were completely normal, except we didn’t realize we were taking hours to deliver the lines.”
Madhavan also shared a personal anecdote reminiscent of a scene from “3 Idiots,” recalling a heartfelt conversation with his disappointed father. He disclosed failing the 8th grade due to scoring only 39 percent in mathematics. Acknowledging his academic shortcomings, he confessed,
“I was not a very good student, much to the disgust and dismay of my parents. Their dream was that I should get married and join Tata Steel, and live in the same house as my father. I remember my parents being heartbroken. My dad isn’t prone to being dramatic, but we were walking down the railway track after the last engineering college had rejected my application. He had tears in his eyes, and he asked, ‘What have I done wrong with you?’ I said, ‘Appa, I don’t know what I will become, but I know what I don’t want to do, and I don’t want to do your job. If I sit on the table for 30 years, I’ll end up killing somebody. I’m not right for that. All I can tell you is that I won’t let you down.'”
Watch the podcast here: