Ace director Mani Ratnam's magnificent period saga project, Ponniyin Selvan which was announced a couple of years ago, was shelved in the pre-production stage.

Though the project wasn't formally announced, it was revealed by sources close to the director that Mani had roped in Mahesh Babu, Vijay, Anushka Shetty and Vishal to play the lead roles in the historical movie.

Sources said that the movie was shelved because the planned budget for the project of Rs 200 crores was not financially viable, as it was a period-drama.

Now, writer Jeyamohan who worked on the screenplay of the movie, has revealed the exact reason for the project being dropped. In a recent interaction, Jeyamohan said, "Though there are many temples in Tamil Nadu, they don't allow film shoots inside the temple premises. So, Mani Ratnam decided to erect huge replica sets and it was calculated that the sets alone would cost Rs 50 crore, which was not viable for production.”

(Content provided by Digital Native)