Madhavan in a grey role

“I have different looks in the film. I'm playing a professor, but when I go to different areas, I‘m dressed up as different characters,” Madhavan said.

“There’s one (scene) with a very suave, high-end party look; then there is one for the low, scum areas. Another one’s of a mid-level thug; there is the professor’s look of course and all sort of stuff leading to even a casanova’s and an Italian' look,” he explained.

“In Hindi films, this will be my first grey kind of character as one who wants everything very fast in life,” the 39-year-old added.

The multilingual actor is not apprehensive about the audience’s reaction to the transition from his chocolate-boy image. “When the film is wholesome and you are playing a character, they (audiences) will accept you in any case,” he said.

“Even Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan and Shah Rukh (Khan)  have done that. It’s very important to play different kinds of roles and I am very excited about it. I am very keen to see how the audiences will react to it,” he added.

Releasing on February 26, director Leemna Yadav's Teen Patti is about greed and deception set in the backdrop of high stake gambling. After his hit 3 Idiots was dragged into a controversy for apparently promoting ragging, Madhavan is playing safe and insists Teen Patti doesn't glorify gambling but is inspired by mathematics.

“If there is anything that Teen Patti will provoke, (it) is mathematics. It deals largely with mathematics in our lives and youngsters’ desire to get anything ‘now and today’ in no time,” Madhavan said.

Saira Mohan, Raima Sen and newcomers Shraddha Kapoor, Siddharth Kher, Viabhav Talwar and Dhruv Ganesh also portray pivotal roles in the movie. Teen Patti also boasts of special appearances by Ajay Devgan, Jackie Shroff, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ranjeet, Shakti Kapoor and Tinnu Anand.

Teen Patti reportedly has some passionate scenes between Madhavan and Saira Mohan but the actor steers clear of controversies and says it has been approved by the censor board.

“I’d like to say that on record that the film has a very large U certificate so there will be nothing explicit about it,” Madhavan said. And what about the kissing scenes with Saira? “These aren’t anything to talk about. All that you see (in the movie) is completely universal. The censor board doesn't give you a U certificate if there is a large number of kissing or other such stuff,” he said. Apart from Teen Patti, Madhavan's future projects include Tanu Weds Manu opposite Kangana Ranaut.