By Subhash K. Jha, IANS

Actor R. Madhavan plays a journalist for the first time in Mani Rathnam's much discussed "Guru".

Says Maddy: "I've always been on the other side of the firing line. Now I know how it feels to be asking the questions."

Reliving the experience of shooting with his mentor, Maddy says: "'Guru' is going to be no ordinary film. Trust me, I've worked thrice with Mani, including the Tamil versions of 'Saathiya' and 'Yuva'. Never have I seen him so charged. Mani wanted to go into the various time passages in 'Guru' chronologically. He waited for all our dates, and then did it in one go."

Any regrets about not being the central character in his mentor's film?

"None at all. I've no qualms in doing anything Mani asks me to. He's my guru. And when my guru asked me to be in 'Guru', there was no question of questioning him. Nobody questions Mani."

Maddy is happy to have worked with Abhishek Bachchan.

"He's one actor who's a friend first. It is very difficult to make friends with your colleagues. Somewhere the sense of competitiveness comes in. Not with Abhishek. I always wish I could do Hindi versions of my Tamil films. But when Abhishek did 'Run' and 'Yuva', I was the happiest. If Mani's 'Yuva' took Abhishek two steps forward, 'Guru' will take him 10 steps."

Interestingly Madhavan shot for Rituparno Ghosh's "Sunglass" back-to-back with "Guru".

"Though it was my first time with Ritu, it felt like we had worked together many times. If in 'Guru' I have Abhishek for company in 'Sunglass' I've Jayaji. People tend to notice how strong his mom's influence is on Abhishek's personality, specially the eyes and smile."

After completing his work in 'Guru' and Rituparno Ghosh's 'Sunglass', Madhavan is now in Malaysia for a week of vacation with wife Sarita and son Vedant.

"Actually," Maddy confesses, "my parents advised me to go alone. Taking my son along is as good as kissing my vacation goodbye. To say he's a handful would be an understatement. He's barely one, and he turns on my laptop and plays the music. He seems to be a gizmo expert from now only. He makes us run around his little finger. The only one not in his control is our parrot Ashley. Ashley hates Vedant for stealing away the attention. Even I feel the same way every time I see my wife and son together."