/> Madhavan's mammoth Tamil following is in a state of heightened jubilation. In deference to his fans' insistent requests on Twitter and the Sms, joining hands with the other Tamil superstar Kamal Haasan, Maddy decided to boycott IIFA in Colombo last week.

That was not all. In a masterstroke of solidarity with the Tamil community, the two iconic Tamilian actors decided to hold the mahurat of their new Tamil film Manmadanambu in Chennai the morning of 3 June when all of the Indian film industry headed for Colombo for the film awards.

Says Maddy, "I wouldn't like to get into the politics of it because I'm an apolitical person.Even when I did Kannathil Muthamital which had a bearing on LTTE activities, I did it for the love of Mani Ratnam, not politics.

But yes I'd do nothing to hurt the sentiments of my Tamil fans. There were hundreds of messages on Twitter and the Sms imploring me to stay away from IIFA this year."

Could this joining of hands with Kamal Haasan be seen as a gesture of solidarity for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka?

According to a source close to Kamal and Maddy the fact that the mahurat of their new film together coincided with the IIFA event in Colombo was a clear signal to the Tamil community that the two actors were completely in support of their cause.

Some years ago Madhavan had done a masterly Tamil film, Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamital on the workings and emotional pressures caused by the LTTE activities.

Madhavan's Tamil fans whose network spreads from Tamil Nadu to Singapore to the US, were pleased by their hero's participation in a film that seemed to be a rare cinematic voice trying to understand their cause.

The latest gesture of solidarity (boycotting the IIFA and starting a new Tamil film) puts Maddy high on the Tamilians' popularity list.

Significantly, after a stupendous hit like 3 Idiots in Hindi Maddy has gone back to Tamil cinema on his Tamil fans' say -so.

"I kept getting hate messages about why I wasn't doing Tamil films. I hadn't done a Tamil film for a while. As for Hindi cinema I've just completed Tanu Weds Manu which is turned out really well, " says the actor who turned 40 on June 1.

"On my birthday my wife and I headed for Pune to play golf with all my old friends. My wife is a really good golf player. She can beat me at the game any time. After playing the whole day we headed back to Mumbai to our favourite restaurant. Satiated with Japanese wine we headed home to do what all sozzled couples do on special occasions."