The eagerly awaited film Ponniyin Selvan 1, which released worldwide today, has been gaining favourable reviews. The movie received widespread publicity since it features a star-studded cast and portrays The Cholas, one of the largest empires in Indian history.
In an exclusive interview with News18, director Mani Ratnam said, “It all started when I bought ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ book at a library in Lloyds Road in Chennai. I have read it numerous times. As Kalki had wrote the novel in an elegant style, I’m thrilled to helm this for the big screen. The five parts of the novel can be viewed as five separate images. However, we have two exquisitely written stories.”
“Each time I read it, I adored every single character. For the first time, Vandhiyathevan. There seems a significant impact on Kundavai as well. On the whole, each of the characters were carved well by the writer and that led to me becoming a fan of him and looking forward to directing the film,” Ratnam added.
Ponniyin Selvan’s story is still relevant
Based on the events that took place a thousand years ago, Kalki wrote the story 70 years ago. However, the incidents he has written about up to this point are quite pertinent to the current era. The politics he mentions in the novel are applicable to this period as well, Mani Ratnam claimed.
Moreover, the director stated that the dialogue for the movie seemed to be a crucial factor, yet writer Jeyamohan assisted in making the verse sound genuine. Subsequently, color has been crafted in accordance with the characters as Kalki did not mention them in his writing, he added.
Why were Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan not involved?
According to Mani Ratnam, “Large fanbases support Rajini and Kamal. They asserted that they ought to be included in the movie because of their admiration for Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan. However, due to the lack of suitable sequences both of them were not featured in the film. Further, Mani Ratnam asserted, “You can tell how much study Kalki did to write this book when you read Ponniyin Selvan. The costumes, aesthetics, and other aspects of this movie all involved much research. We consulted a large number of professionals to get their thoughts.”
Was it challenging to know the periods of the Cholas?
“Yes, it was definitely challenging. Some of the scenes were fictionalized despite Kalki’s story,” Ratnam admitted. He affirmed that it should be comprehensible to those who have read the novel, and to those who have not, the film will appear easy to understand. “I did not consider it to be a Pan-India film while I was making it. The more localized the film, the more international it is. Like how the world has seen the Bengali village story by Satyajit Ray. Thus, the best is ‘soil-dependent’,” he opined.
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