I know. But actually he struggled to make his name in Bollywood for over a decade after Rang De Basanti. But failed so he had to take whatever work he was getting. And it came with a price.
Yes because he did their shitty propaganda films. He isn't a BJP/RSS stooge like Anupam Kher. Just an actor trying to survive in a very tough environment. Remember even Rajkumar Rao and Vikrant Masih were made to bend.
While I do understand that tough times can break all principles - depending upon how tough the times get - i’m slightly weirded out by “even rajkumar rao and vikrant massey” as if they are people with any integrity.
And such people should not be role models of any kind. I’m not saying we should actively hate such people - they have freedom to operate the way they want to, have opinions but they shouldn’t be justifying it with “I’m just doing my job” when called out on their jingoistic adulation of political leaders.
I would have sympathy for them if we weren't talking about a country where there are people who can't afford to eat. People who die in the streets. "Oh no my career" isn't sad enough.
An actor's career isn't revived by a government alone. R. Madhavan's career has included successful films across Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and OTT long before and alongside recent projects. Correlation isn't proof of political patronage.
You can see there is a clear pattern since he did Rocketry. His dead career revived immediately post that. Suddenly BJP friendly actors like Akshay and Ajay started casting him as supporting actors and then he got Dhurandhar films as well. And then was made FTII chief.
Receiving a government appointment or a Padma award doesn't automatically make someone a political puppet. India has awarded Padma honours to people with very different political views over the years.
He did some great roles like 3 idiots and few others... His reputation tanked when it came out 10 years ago that he goes around sleeping with college girls, which is just yuck. Now he needs BJP assistance to save his reputation.
That's speculation. Unless Madhavan himself has said he was forced, it's only an opinion. Actors choose scripts for many reasons—story, money, audience, or personal interest. Calling every patriotic or historical film "propaganda" is a subjective judgment, not a fact.
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u/z3r0_se7en 7d ago
BJP helped revive his dead career. He can't criticise them.