A new poster for ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’, or ‘PS1’, the epic movie made on a whopping Rs5 billion budget by ace director Mani Ratnam, was released on social media. The movie is scheduled to hit screens on September 30.
The movie, based on the 1955 novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ by Kalki Krishnamoorthy is, according to Ratnam his masterpiece and he has been able to helm it only after several failed attempts.
Ever since the novel became a hit in Tamil Nadu, many movie makers attempted to work on it, but they could not turn their pursuit into a film.
The novel is based on the 10th-century Chola period and the fights within the ruling clan. The role played by spies of the empire, its military leaders and the politics behind it are all shown in the movie.
Legendary Tamil actor MG Ramachandran (MGR), who later went on to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, had tried his hand at making ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ after the novel hit the stands. His attempt, too, did not lead to any results due to various reasons.
Ratnam himself tried to make the film in 1999 and 2009 but in vain. He later roped in Lyka Productions to fund the movie and thus the movie shoot commenced. His own Madras Talkies and Alirajah Subaskaran also joined in the production of the movie.
The script of the movie is written by Ratnam along with Elango Kumaravel and dialogues have been penned B Jayamohan.
It has an impressive cast with Vikram playing the lead role, and Tamil stars Karthi and Jeyem Ravi and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also in the film.
The movie also stars Trisha, Shobitha Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lakshmi, Jayaram and Vikram Prabhu.
