On June 1, as Madhavan turned 43 he decided to celebrate his birthday in an unusual way. Maddy's lovely and very efficient wife Sarita hosted a fancy-dress party at their Mumbai residence where every guest had to dress up either as a South Indian and a Punjabi. But wait, there was a catch. The South Indian guests had dress up as North Indians and, vice versa. Says Madhavan with a chuckle, "I was dressed as a Sardarji for my birthday lunch. Can you believe it! Of course that fact that I've grown a long flowing beard for my next film helped me to get into character for my fancy-dress party. But I can tell you, being a Sardarji is not easy in the summer heat."

Interestingly, most of the guests at Maddy's birthday party were from outside the film industry. The night before, he brought in his birthday with a quiet dinner at Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty's house. Madhavan who has been lying low because of a knee injury and slow gradual recovery has lost the extra weight and is ready to move into his new projects. The brilliant actor who was part of two very big successes, Raju Kumar Hirani's 3 Idiots and Aanand Kumar's Tanu Weds Manu, says he is done with conventional roles. "I realize I can't do what Ranbir Kapoor can. In fact the mistake I made in my last Hindi film Jodi Breakers was to try to play a role that didn't suit my age."

Madhavan would now be seeking out roles which give him a chance to stretch himself out as an actor. "I want to work with filmmakers who can extend my range as an actor. It's no longer cool for me to just target the box office. I am in no hurry to prove anything. I will wait," promises Maddy.