Ponniyin Selvan: I (Soldier), also known and marketed as PS-1, is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language epic historical action adventure film directed by Mani Ratnam, who co-wrote it with Elango Kumaravel and B. Jeyamohan. Produced by Ratnam and Subaskaran Allirajah under Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, it is the first of two cinematic parts based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 novel, Ponniyin Selvan. The film stars an ensemble cast including Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Jayaram, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R. Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Prakash Raj, Rahman, R. Parthiban and Lal.[1] The music was composed by A. R. Rahman, with cinematography by Ravi Varman, editing by A. Sreekar Prasad, and production design by Thota Tharani. Ponniyin Selvan: I dramatizes the early life of Chola prince Arunmozhi Varman, who would become the renowned emperor Rajaraja I (947–1014).[2] In the film, Vandiyathevan sets out to cross the Chola land to deliver a message from the crown prince Aditha Karikalan. Meanwhile, Kundavai attempts to establish political peace as vassals and petty chieftains plot against the throne.
Ever since its publication, a film adaptation of the novel Ponniyin Selvan had been explored by several Tamil filmmakers, including an attempt by M. G. Ramachandran in the late 1950s; however, it never materialized due to financial constraints. Decades later, Ratnam attempted to adapt the novel in the late-1980s and early-2010s but was unsuccessful. Calling it his "dream project", Ratnam revived the effort in January 2019, after Lyca agreed to fund the film. Following several changes in cast and crew, production of Ponniyin Selvan began in December 2019 and concluded in September 2021, halting twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was shot in various locations across India, with a few sequences in Thailand. It was originally intended to be a single film but was split into two parts.
Ponniyin Selvan: I was released in theatres worldwide on 30 September 2022 in standard and IMAX formats, where it received acclaim from film critics, who praised the direction, music, visuals, performances of the cast, and faithfulness to the novel. Breaking several box-office records, it grossed more than Template:INRConvert and became the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2022, the second-highest-grossing Tamil film of all time and the 15th highest-grossing Indian film of all time. It received six nominations at the 16th Asian Film Awards, including Best Film.
Plot[]
In the 10th century, Emperor Sundara Chozhar of the Chola Dynasty reigns prosperously in South India while his sons Aditha Karikalan and Arulmozhi Varman aka Ponniyin Selvan are heading their conquests respectively for the empire at Kanchi and Lanka. Sensing something amiss with his courtiers, Aditha Karikalan dispatches his trusted associate and the Vaanar clan's prince Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan to investigate and subsequently pass on the information to his sister Princess Kundavai and Sundara Chozhar. Vandiyadevan encounters a Vaishnavite Azhwarkkadiyan Nambi before arriving at the fortress of Kadambur, where all the ministers have gathered. Vandiyadevan finds his way into the fortress using his companionship with Kadampur's prince Kandhamaran and overhears a conspiracy devised by the minister of finance and treasurer Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar and other ministers in a meeting to resist Aditha Karikalan from ascending the throne and install his uncle Madhuranthaka Chola on it.
Vandiyadevan witnesses Nambi spying over the conference and after exiting from the fortress, he confronts Nambi on a boat making him disclose that he was there to find his foster sister Nandini, who mysteriously disappeared from the house in his absence and later, married a much older Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. Vandiyadevan later interrupts a convoy of Nandini and informs the latter that he is Nambi's acquaintance and would like to deliver her a message from him, intending to gain access to the palace of royalty in Thanjavur bypassing Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar's younger brother Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar. Nandini gives him a ring that would help him enter the palace and leaves; Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar, the fort's chief-in-charge permits Vandiyadevan as the latter presents the ring and claims that it was given to him by Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. Vandiyadevan meets Sundara Chozhar and discloses to him about the conspirators but Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar intervenes and attempts to have him apprehended. Vandiyadevan evades and out of misinterpretation, he is taken to Nandini's chamber where she discovers his motives of meeting Kundavai with Aditha Karikalan's message and asks him to bring the reply to her first. He obliges and is shown a secret tunnel out of the palace.
Vandiyadevan meets Kundavai through a friend and flower seller Sendhan Amudhan and relays the information about the scheme against the royalty to her. She issues an order to him to bring Ponniyin Selvan back from Lanka and he complies. Madhuranthaka's mother Sembiyan Madevi asks him to desist plotting against Sundara Chozhar and his heirs but is rebuffed. Aditha Karikalan narrates to his companion Parthibendran Pallavan that he was indulged in an affair with Nandini as a teenager but she was not accepted to be the prospective queen of the empire and banished from the city. Aditha Karikalan happened to meet her after several years, tending to his enemy Veerapandiyan, her love interest. Infuriated, he beheaded Veerapandiyan and presently, emphasizes that Nandini married Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar to take revenge against the Chola dynasty.
Ponniyin Selvan emerges victorious in a battle against Raja Mahinda of Lanka while Vandiyadevan engages a rowing woman Poonguzhali (A Boat Woman) to take him to Lanka and discovers that she admires Ponniyin Selvan and harbors feelings for him. Divulged to be a spy of Sundara Chozhar's well wisher Prime minister Aniruddha Brahmarayar, Nambi arrives at Lanka and chances upon Vandiyadevan. While Vandiyadevan transmits messages for Ponniyin Selvan from Kundavai and Vaanathi (Princess of Kodumbalur) who is expected to marry him, Nambi suggests that it is dangerous for Ponniyin Selvan to return. Kundavai returns to Thanjavur while Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar and other ministers manipulate Sundara Chozhar into dispatching a convoy to bring Ponniyin Selvan back to Thanjavur as a prisoner for rejecting the throne of Ashoka's daughter, offered to him by Buddhist monks. Sundara Chozhar commands Kundavai to convince Aditha Karikalan and return with him to Thanjavur as it would be inappropriate for the crown prince to be away from the capital.
In Lanka, meanwhile, Pandya Aabathudavigal, a group of soldiers headed by Ravi Dasan, devoted to Pandya dynasty and avenging the death of their ruler Veerapandiyan, attack Nambi, Ponniyin Selvan and Vandiyadevan intending to assassinate the former. However, they are resisted by Oomai Rani, a veiled woman; Ponniyin Selvan claims that she was the one who rescued him from drowning in the river Ponni when he was a child. Kundavai and Vaanathi make it to Kanchi and Kundavai keeps persuading Aditha Karikalan to return and states that her decision of having Nandini banished from the city was for the dynasty's good but he refuses to agree and doesn't oblige to her requests. Meanwhile, a member of Pandya Aabathudavigal reaches Mahinda and gains from him, an army to accomplish the group's plan of assassinating Ponniyin Selvan. Poonguzhali chances upon the convoy, which is assigned on arresting Ponniyin Selvan and realizing that it was sent by Pazhuvettaraiyar, she senses a conspiracy and refuses to disclose Ponniyin Selvan's details. She reveals about the convoy to Ponniyin Selvan, Vandiya Devan, Nambi, Pallavan (who was sent by Aditha Karikalan to Ponniyin Selvan) and Periya Velar, Vaanathi's uncle.
His well wishers repudiate to send him to the convoy but deciding to abide by his father's orders, Ponniyin Selvan seeks the help of Poonguzhali to meet the convoy and disguises himself as a mahout, while making Vandiyadevan look like a prince. Poonguzhali and Ponniyin Selvan discover that the convoy is ambushed by Pandya Aabathudavigal, who seize Vandiyadevan, misunderstanding him to be Ponniyin Selvan. Intending to save Vandiyadevan, Ponniyin Selvan heads to the sailing ship of Pandya Aabathudavigal and fights the latter but the ship eventually drowns in sea due to a storm while a helpless Poonguzhali tries to rescue them. Ponniyin Selvan and Vandiyadevan are presumed to be dead and the news is relayed to Sundara Chozhar, Kundavai and Aditha Karikalan who are all devastated. Vowing to retaliate his brother's apparent death, Aditha Karikalan heads to Thanjavur to destroy Nandini while Oomai Rani, a lookalike of Nandini, swims in the sea to rescue Ponniyin Selvan.
Cast[]
- Vikram as Aditha Karikalan, crown prince and commander of the Northern troops of Chola empire, he was a distinguished warrior, he started to fight in 12.
- Santhosh Sreeram as Young Aditha Karikalan
- Karthi as Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, The brave, adventurous, warrior prince of Vannar clan
- Jayam Ravi as Arunmozhi Varman (Ponniyin Selvan), Prince of Chola Empire
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as in a dual role as:
- Trisha as Kundavai, Princess of Chola Empire[4]
- Aishwarya Lekshmi as Poonguzhali alias Samuthirakumari, a boat woman
- Sobhita Dhulipala as Vaanathi, Princess of Kodumbalur[5]
- Jayaram as Azhwarkkadiyan Nambi, Spy of Aniruddha Brahmaraayar
- Prabhu as Periya Velar Boothi Vikramakesari, Commander of the Southern troops of Chola Empire
- R. Sarathkumar as Periya Pazhuvettarayar, Chancellor of Chola Empire
- Vikram Prabhu as Parthibendran Pallavan
- Prakash Raj as Sundara Cholan, Emperor of Chola Empire
- Rahman as Madhurantakan (Dubbed by Azhagam Perumal)
- R. Parthiban as Chinna Pazhuvettarayar alias Kalandhakandan, Chief in-charge of Thanjavur fort
- Lal as Thirukovalur Malaiyaman
- Jayachitra as Sembiyan Mahadevi, Queen Mother
- Vidya Subramanian as Vanavan Mahadevi, Empress of the Chola empire. Chief queen, wife and caretaker of Sundara Chola
- Ashwin Kakumanu as Sendhan Amudhan, a flower seller
- Kishore as Ravidasan, Pandya conspirator
- Babu Antony as Khottiga
- Nassar as Veerapandiyan (cameo)
- Nizhalgal Ravi as Sambuvarayar, King of Kadambur
- Mohan Raman as Aniruddha Brahmarayar, Prime Minister of Chola Empire
- Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Vasuki, maid of Nandini
- Shyam Fernando as Mahindan, King of Anuradhapura
- Balaji Sakthivel as Vanangamudiyar, Petty King
- Yog Japee as Karuthiruman
- Riyaz Khan as Soman Sambavan, Pandya conspirator
- Arjun Chidambaram as Varagunan, Pandya conspirator
- Nimmy Raphael as Rakkamma, Pandya conspirator
- Vinay Kumar Joseph as Devaralan, Pandya conspirator
- Harris Moosa as Kalapathi, Pandya conspirator
- Gopi Kannadasan as Dambulla Bikshu
- Bharat Raj as Karka, Pandiya conspirator
- A. Seemon as Ugradevan, Pandya conspirator
- Suresh Ekambaram as Aadhan Maran, Pandya conspirator
- Aswin Rao as Kandhamaran, Prince of Kadambur
- Anil Kumar as Pasupathi, Pandya conspirator
- Shakti Ramani as Kani
- Raaghavan as Amarabujanga Pandiyan, Son of Veerapandiyan
- Amzath Khan as Mazhavarayar, Petty King
The film's narration was voiced by Kamal Haasan (both trailer and film), Anil Kapoor (trailer)/Ajay Devgn (film), Rana Daggubati (trailer)/Chiranjeevi (film), Prithviraj Sukumaran (trailer)/Mammootty (film) and Jayanth Kaikini (trailer)/Upendra (film) in the Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages respectively.[6]
Production[]
- Main article: Production of Ponniyin Selvan: I and Ponniyin Selvan: II
Music[]
- Main article: Ponniyin Selvan: I (soundtrack)
The film score and soundtrack were composed by Mani Ratnam's regular collaborator A. R. Rahman. The audio rights of the film were purchased by Tips.
The soundtrack consists of six original songs composed by A.R.Rahman, namely, "Ponni Nadhi", "Chola Chola", "Ratchasa Maamaney", "Sol", "Alaikadal" and "Devaralan Aattam". Lyrics were written by Ilango Krishnan, Kabilan, Krithika Nelson and Siva Ananth in the Tamil version and Mehboob Kotwal, Ananta Sriram, Rafeeq Ahamed and Jayanth Kaikini wrote the song lyrics in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada respectively.
Marketing[]
TBA
Release[]
Theatrical[]
TBA
Distribution[]
TBA
Home media[]
TBA
Reception[]
Critical response[]
TBA
Box office[]
TBA
Accolades[]
TBA
Sequel[]
- Main article: Ponniyin Selvan: II
On 17 September 2022, Ratnam in a press meet, confirmed that Ponniyin Selvan: II (PS:2) would be released in six to nine months after the theatrical release of Ponniyin Selvan: I.[7] On 28 December 2022, it was revealed by the unit that PS:2 would be releasing on 28 April 2023.[8]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ [TBA The women of Ponniyin Selvan: Aishwarya Rai's vengeful Nandini, Trisha's calculating Kundavai are true heroes of Mani Ratnam's saga] (13 October 2022).
- ↑ [TBA Haven't read Ponniyin Selvan? We have a cheat sheet for you] (7 September 2022).
- ↑ [TBA Ponniyin Selvan 1: Deepa Venkat Who Voiced Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Character Pens A Long 'Thank You' Note Praising The Actress].
- ↑ [TBA The Face Behind The Voice of Kundavai | Dubbing Artist Krithika Nelson Interview | Trisha, PS 1].
- ↑ [TBA என் Voice-னு Theatre-ல கத்தணும்னு தோணும்].
- ↑ [TBA Ponniyin Selvan: Kamal Haasan, Anil Kapoor, Rana Daggubati lend voices for trailers of Mani Ratnam's film] (7 September 2022).
- ↑ [TBA Ponniyin Selvan Part 2 will release 6 to 9 months after part 1's release, says Mani Ratnam] (17 September 2022).
- ↑ [TBA Ponniyin Selvan 2: Vikram And Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's Film Gets A Release Date] (28 December 2022).
External links[]
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