The first poster of Mani Ratnam’s upcoming film Ponniyin Selvan was released on January 2, confirming the film’s progress. The poster shows a sword with a golden hilt, bearing the tiger insignia, the Chola’s emblem along with the words 'Beginning of the golden era'. Behind it is a fiery streak in the pink skies.
Are you ready to witness the beginning of the golden era on the big screen? #PonniyinSelvan
— Madras Talkies (@MadrasTalkies_) January 2, 2020
Shooting in progress #Kalki #ManiRatnam @LycaProductions @arrahman #RaviVarman @sreekar_prasad #ThottaTharani #Jeyamohan @ShamKaushal @ekalakhani @BrindhaGopal1 @bagapath pic.twitter.com/KNaQTX15Rb
Among the crew members listed are AR Rahman for music, Ravi Varman for cinematography, Sreekar Prasad for editing, Thotta Tharani for production design and writer Jeyamohan for dialogues.
Sharing credits for screenplay along with Mani Ratnam is Kumaravel. Eka Lakhani will take care of costumes for this historical drama while Vikram Gaikwad is in charge of the makeup. Dance master Brinda has been roped in for choreography while Sham Kaushal will take care of action direction. The film is being jointly produced by Mani Ratnam and Lyca’s Sudaskaran. Siva Ananth is the film’s executive producer.
Interestingly, this poster does not mention the lyricist. Earlier, there were reports that Vairamuthu, who was accused of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement by singer Chinmayi and others, will be penning the lyrics for this film. While Mani Ratnam neither confirmed nor denied reports, Vairamuthu mentioned that he was doing the film in an interview. The news drew criticism from many. However, when the official announcement about Ponniyin Selvan was made in December, Vairamuthu was not present at the event, once again raising speculation that he may not be part of the project.
There were also news reports that he's been dropped from the film though Madras Talkies did not issue an official statement in this regard.
The film is an ambitious project inspired by the classic novel Ponniyin Selvan. The book traces the life of the most popular among the Chozha kings, Raja Raja Chozhan I. Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, and Aishwarya Lekshmi among others have been roped in to star in this film.
Apparently, most of the actors have already started prepping for the project. Mani Ratnam has finalised locations in Tamil Nadu and Thailand, where most of the shooting will happen with over 500 junior artistes.