Earlier today, the trailer of Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus was dropped, and as expected the enigmatic screenplay and starstudded cast took the limelight adding to viewers’ anticipation. Since the first look of the film was released, fans had been waiting with bated breath for the makers to drop the teaser of the film so as to catch the glimpse of the period drama. Apparently, the teaser of the film was supposed to release a few weeks back but had got postponed at the very last minute, but finally got launched in the presence of other celebrities.
For the unversed, the film is the first time Ratnam experimenting, making a period drama that is adapted from a novel. Kalki Krishnamoorthy, a novelist, who is hugely popular for his fictitious work is the inspiration behind the film as the film is an adaption of one of his novels with a similar title. The novel was published around the 1950s in a weekly magazine, that depicts the 10th century Chola Dynasty rule, and their fight for the throne as to who’ll replace the ailing king. While the Mani Ratnam adaptation is certainly not going to be completely based on the novel, the director is said to only have drawn some key references from the book with the help of Elango Kumaravel and B Jeyamohan.
For the unversed, Kalki’s version of the book, with respect to the script is quite big. Hence the makers have decided to divide the film into two parts. It is said that despite cutting the film into two parts, it is extremely difficult to fit in all the aspects of the novel, hence a major part of the storyline was reduced to be able to make the script fit for a movie.
Since the movie was announced, many fans of the original novel expressed their opinion stating it would be extremely difficult for the makers to scrunch the plot of the novel into a 4 or 5-hour movie, as the storyline is intense, filled with romance, bravery, honesty, friendship, devotion, suspense and vengeance, and hence believed that the story deserves a series instead.
ALSO READ – KGF Star Yash Signs 4 PAN India Projects- What We Know So Far!
Elango Kumaravel, who co-scripted the film shared his experience making the magnum opus, the idea was established almost 6 years back, “Under Mani Ratnam’s direction, there were plans to make Ponniyin Selvan into a film six years ago. I had written the screenplay for the same. But we were not given permission to shoot in any of the temples in Tamil Nadu. There are no big forts in Tamil Nadu which are situated at the ground level without the huge walls of temples. Therefore, at that time, just for the erection of sets, it was calculated that it would cost fifty crores and hence the plan was dropped”