How Maddy is different from others

I can’t believe Maddy has turned 52 on June 1. We’ve practically grown up together. He started his career some years after mine. But I’ve known him from the time he started on television. We are family friends in the truest sense.

Maddy has a special privilege given to none of my friends from the entertainment industry. He is the only one I call by his nickname. As a rule, I find nicknames obnoxious. I had one during my childhood. I threw it out the minute I could tell wrong from right. You won’t hear me Bebo-ing and Akki-ing anyone in the film industry.

With Maddy, it’s different. Maddy is…Maddy! He is one of the few actors who has been our house guest. It was when he was promoting his film Ramji Londonwale where he played a cook. Maddy arrived for a two-day visit laden with gifts for everyone including my mother. He stayed with us as a normal guest, no special demands, no withdrawing into his room for privacy. For two days he mingled with us, went out to have paani puris and to visit the Gurdwara, watched television with us, played games, bitched about everyone.

My mother, the least star-stuck person I’ve met, loved Madhavan. “He is so normal. Nothing zabardasti or kha-ma-kha about him.” She was always guarded about my Bollywood friends. She had every right to be. One star (who at 60-plus looks 45 and never stops reminding the world of his eternal youth) had called in the era of the landline and commanded my mother, “Saab ko bulao.”