R Madhavan on playing negative role in Kesari 2: "want log mujhe hate karein...'

Madhavan with Akshay Kumar, Ananya Panday, Karan Johar and director of Kesari 2 in New Delhi

Actor R. Madhavan on Thursday (April 3) said that he doesn't see any character through the lens of being positive or negative; rather, he wants to do roles that make him want to perform.

The actor, who was in New Delhi for the launch of the Kesari 2 trailer with the other cast members Akshay Kumar and Ananya Panday, said he looks at the purpose of why the film is being made and then decides on signing for it.

Madhavan returns to the silver screen with yet another negative role after Shaitaan, and when Money Control quizzed him about the same, he said, "When I choose to do a film, I look at the purpose behind why the film is being made. More often than not, that will decide immediately what my decision is. This was Dharma (Productions), with Karan Johar and Apoorva making a film called Kesari Chapter 2 with Akshay (Kumar) sir, and a director was also called Karan. He was a law graduate from Harvard. And they've all gotten together to tell a story that should be told," he said.

Madhavan plays the role of British lawyer Neville Mckinley, and he said the Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a genocide.

"When I did the film, I realized that it was the biggest genocide. I won't even call it a massacre; it was a genocide," he added.

Madhavan said he wants the audience to 'hate him' after watching the movie; only then he would succeed in his job.

"The person who was responsible for it should actually own it. I thought there was no better story for me than this. Main nahi dekhta hoon ki ye negative hai ya positive, aur usse itne achche se nibhaon ki log mujhe hte karein. (I felt that this was a story that needed to be told. I don't think about whether it's positive or negative," he added.

'Kesari Chapter 2' delves into an untold story of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The film is the second part in the "Kesari" franchise that started with the 2019 movie "Kesari," which revolved around the Battle of Saragarhi in 1897.

Also Read: Akshay Kumar launches Kesari Chapter 2 trailer, talks about why he used 'F*ck You' for the first time onscreen - Exclusive

Produced by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions, the film narrates the true story of lawyer C. Sankaran Nair, who fought a legal battle against the British Empire in the 1920s. The movie is based on the book “The Case That Shook the Empire” by Nair's great-grandson Raghu Palat and his wife Pushpa Palat.

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It details the 1924 defamation trial in which Michael O’Dwyer, former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab and the architect of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, sued Nair, who had criticized British atrocities in Punjab in his book. Akshay said he had no knowledge about the trial before Raghu Palat's book.

"Kesari Chapter 2," which is set to be released in theaters on April 18, is directed by debutant filmmaker Karan Singh Tyagi. It also features Ananya Panday. (With PTI inputs)