July 1, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): Southern superstar and Bollywood’s resident Idiot from Raj Kumar Hirani’s blockbuster R Madhavan is playing games once again.

Having dabbled in television extensively during his growing years as an actor, Maddy is all set to return to what he calls his first love. The actor who has a deep connectivity with the audiences on screens of any size and believes that size doesn’t matter.

“It’s not about how big it is. It’s the performance,” he winks naughtily. “I’ve never taken television for granted. I’ve done 18, 00 episodes of television serials like “Banegi Apni Baat’, “Sea Hawks’, “Saaya’ and “Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Hum’. It’s quite a total! Television has been quite a learning curve for me. It has taught me the importance of time management, camera angles and space-management…I owe a lot to television.”

It was with great pleasure that Madhavan was persuaded to return to television by Siddharth Basu of BigSynergy Communications in order to host their swanky new game show Big Money

As he prepares for his grand return to television, Maddy’s excitement is uncontainable. “Because I was so busy with my film assignment in Mumbai and down South I didn’t think I’d have time for television. But then I can’t say no to Siddharth Basu. He’s absolutely the most accomplished producer of quiz shows.”

“Big Money’ is the third game show that Maddy would be hosting. “Earlier I hosted “Tol Mol Ke Bol’ and “Deal Ya No Deal’ and enjoyed both the experiences. Moreover “Big Money’ is a desi adaptation of the popular international game show “Family Links’. All the questions asked on the show would pertain to television and its popular shows. So you could say that this is a game show about the home-viewing medium on the home-viewing medium.”

Luckily for Maddy, it wouldn’t take up too much of his time. “They just need me for 11 days in three months. And yes “Big Money’ is paying me big money. But I’m not revealing the amount.”

–Subhash K Jha/ Sampurn Wire