Director Mani Ratnam’s dream work, the epic historical drama Ponniyin Selvan, hit the screens earlier this year amidst high expectations. The entertainer, which was released in more than 1000 screens worldwide, opened to massive response from the audience except for a tad dissatisfaction over VFX works. The drama bagged a pile load of money. Unfortunately, though it enjoyed a positive reception on one sect of the population, it ran in to a massive controversy amidst another sect of the audience. It paved the way for a heated debate on social media, and faced strong opposition from Tamil historians. Even director Vetrimaaran made a comment on the issue. The tide has finally subsided. Now, the production house is gearing up to bring the second part of the franchise to theaters. The post production works are almost done.
The production house has now shared the release date of the flick on social media. The second installment of Ponniyin Selvan is slated to hit the theaters in the summer of 2023 on 28th of April. Taking to their official twitter account, the production unit shared a date announcement video with the caption, “Let’s get those swords in the air as we await the 28th of April 2023!” Here is the post shared by the production house.
Let’s get those swords in the air as we await the 28th of April 2023!#CholasAreBack #PS1 #PS2 #PonniyinSelvan #ManiRatnam @arrahman @madrastalkies_ @LycaProductions @Tipsofficial @tipsmusicsouth @IMAX @primevideoIN pic.twitter.com/gqit85Oi4j
— Lyca Productions (@LycaProductions) December 28, 2022
The second installment is expected to beat the collection of the first as it is getting released on holiday season. Ponniyin Selvan is a popular novel written by renowned philosopher and author Kalki Krishnamurthy in the year 1951. A whooping 500 crores has been burned to turn the masterpiece in to a film. Popular writer B. Jeyamohan has written the dialogues for the movie. Actor Elango Kumaravel has worked on the screenplay of the flick along with filmmaker Mani Ratnam. After heavy backlash on the first part, director Mani Ratnam is said to have made some changes in the second part to avoid controversies. There is news that the production unit will begin their promotion events from early March. The trailer of the first part was unveiled in a grand audio launch graced by superstars of Tamil cinema. As of now, there is no information regarding, if there would be another grand event to launch the trailer of part two. Just like the first installment, even the second will be released in five different languages Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.
Ponniyin Selvan has an ensemble cast with actor Jayam Ravi as Arulmozhivarman aka Raja Raja Chola 1, actor Chiyaan Vikram in the role of Aditya Karikalan, actor Karthi as Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be seen as Nandini, actress Trisha Krishnan will be seen as Kundavai Pirattiyar, while actor R. Sarathkumar as Periya Pazhuvettarayar. Apart from these actors, the casting of the drama also has Malayalam actor Jayaram Subramaniam, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram Prabhu, Ashwin Kakumanu, R. Parthiban, Prabhu Ganesan, Prakash Raj, Rahman, Aswin Rao, Nizhalgal Ravi, Lal, Vidya Subramanian, Jayachitra, Nassar, Kishore, Riyaz Khan, Vinay Kumar, Mohan Raman, Vinodhini Vaidyanathan, Master Raghavan, Makarand Deshpande, Balaji Sakthivel, Vijay Yesudas, Arjun Chidambaram, Babu Antony, and Amzath Khan in various other supporting roles.
Music director A. R. Rahman has handled the musical instruments for the drama. Cinematographer Ravi Varman has been behind the lens for the flick. Editor A. Sreekar Prasad has edited the film. Art director Thota Tharani has erected the sets for the flick. Stunt masters Dhilip Subburayan, Kaecha Kampakdee, and Shyam Kaushal have choreographed the action blocks of the entertainer. The venture is produced by director Mani Ratnam himself under his banner house Madras Talkies along with Subaskaran Allirajah of Lyca Productions.
