Madhavan to shed weight for Kamal Haasan's daughter

Mumbai, Feb 29 (IANS) Tamil superstar R. Madhavan needs to shed six kilograms to look compatible on screen with Shruti,Tamil entertainment heavyweight Kamal Haasan's daughter, who is set to make her debut with the star.

Madhavan and Shruti will team up for Marathi director Nishikant Kamat's yet to be titled romantic-thriller.

Madhavan told IANS: 'Until the contract was signed, we were not allowed to announce Shruti's name. It's a love story set in a strong thriller format. I had gone to Britain and lost over 10 kg last year. But then for Nishikant Kamat's Tamil version of 'Dombivli Fast', I have to go back to looking like a blob.

'So I'm back to weighing 80 kg. But to look compatible with Shruti (who's about 10 years younger to Madhavan), I've to bring my weight down to 74 kg and I have to do it immediately.'

The actor has been given a timeframe to get into youthful shape.

'When you're overweight, it's not difficult to lose some pounds. But when you're normal in weight, bringing the scale down is tough,' Madhavan said.

The music for the movie has been scored by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Madhavan's 'Yenalu Orvan', the Tamil version of 'Dombivli Fast', has been a great experience for the actor but he doesn't want to produce any more films now.

'To begin with, the collections were average. But the film picked up by word of mouth and glowing reviews. I am going to make money as a producer. But no more production work for me.

'A producer's job is too tough. Acting is tough enough. I did want to do Imtiaz Ali's 'Jab We Met' in Tamil, but someone else has bought the rights,' the actor said.

Currently Madhavan is doing a Hindi-Tamil supernatural thriller called 'Channel'.

'It's about a family that comes to live on the 13th floor of a building. All sorts of eerie things happen to the family. It's our own 'Sixth Sense', which I hope makes sense.'

Neetu Chandra is Madhavan's co-star in this spook fest and Vikram Menon directs it.