Genre: Period Action Drama
Language: Tamil
Dubbed In: Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam
Duration: 167 minutes
Screenplay: Mani Ratnam and Elango Kumaravel
Dialogues: B. Jeyamohan
Producer & Director: Mani Ratnam
Cast: Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R. Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prakash Raj, Rahman, Shyam Fernando, Nassar and R. Parthiban
Music: A. R. Rahman
Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad
Cinematography: Ravi Varman
Art Direction: Santosh Sivan
The Chola and Pandya dynasties of southern India were two of the longest-ruling dynasties in the world history, with their individual total ruling span ranging for around 1500 years!!
About the Chola empire:
• Established in 300s BCE
• Rise of the medieval Cholas took place in 848 CE
• Empire was at its greatest extent in 1030 CE
• Disestablished in 1279 CE
Chalukyas, Cheras and Rashtrakutas were other prominent dynasties that existed in southern India during the aforementioned time span.
Sadly, there is just a passing mention of these dynasties in our history syllabus at school and the nation in general is in dark about their glory!
Thanks to the sheer guts and mammoth efforts of Mani Ratnam, the director and producer of Ponniyin Selvan: I and his team, who chose to dive deep into 1000 years plus old history and created the celluloid representation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 novel Ponniyin Selvan.
My observations while watching the film:
1. It has top of the line cast and crew and everyone has performed quite well, but don't expect it to be a pulsating CGI rich movie like Baahubali 1 (2015) and Baahubali 2 (2017).
The movie making approach of this movie is different than that of Baahubali series.
The movie is based around 10th century, when the rise of the medieval Cholas was in progress amidst myriad challenges.
2. Within the first hour, in order to introduce all the prime characters and their locations, the movie throws in your face a spate of difficult to pronounce and understand names of people and unheard of places, which confuses you like crazy, but eventually you get the hang of it.
Personally, upon returning home, I googled all the places in the movie and scouted their position on Indian map, for better understanding.
I also googled the political maps of Cholas, as well as, Pandyas and Rashtrakutas, the other two dynasties which play a prominent part in the movie.
Please consider it as the limitations of a North Indian. However, I loved the learning process and it gave me a lot of clarity.
3. Please don't watch the movie with the expectation of seeing the Aishwarya of Jodhaa Akbar (2008).
She is still the alluring queen and adorns heavy and exquisite jadau jewelry, albeit the karigiri here is South Indian and not Mughal. And no one can wear such jewels better than her.
In both the movies, she is wise, dignified, but she as Mandakini here is not coy or romantic, but secretive and strategic. Also, there is a gap of 10 plus years between both the movies. A slice of youth has the tendency to slide away in a decade.
4. The women appear more confident and tactful in the movie than men.
However, Karthi as Vallavaraiyan Vanthiyathevan has the best role and he performs it with good energy and comic timing.
5. In spite of svelte and strong presences of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Sobhita Dhulipala, the movie is devoid of romance.
All of them love someone, but though apparent, it's basically in their heart and mind and yet to bloom in full!
Whenever possible, Karthi alone flirts harmlessly with everyone!
6. The movie has 6 songs. A couple of picturisations are quite big scale and impactful.
7. Cinematography, art direction and editing of the movie are quite impressive.
8. At the end of it all, the movie does not look complete. So what if it's a prequel? A prequel in itself should be a complete package of sensible entertainment.
Plot:
Chola Emperor Sundara Chozhar (Prakash Raj) is ill and bed ridden. For kingdom expansion, he sends his elder son Prince Aditha Karikalan (Vikram) to Kanchi via the land route and younger son Prince Arulmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi) to Lanka via the sea route.
Both the gallant princes are successful in their respective conquests, but all of their lives and kingdom are in danger from multiple sources.
They are -
- The devout bodyguards of King Veerapandiyan (Nassar) of Pandya dynasty, who was beheaded in a battle by Prince Aditha, are in constant look out to avenge their dead king.
- Led by Chola Treasurer Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar (R. Sarathkumar), a group of Chola chieftains are conspiring to usurp Prince Aditha's right to ascend to the throne. Instead they want to make his uncle, Madurantakan (Rahman), the immediate next king.
- Post Prince Arulmozhi conquest of Lanka, though he declines the throne, King Mihindu V (Shyam Fernando) of Lanka sees him as a dire threat and sends his men to sabotage and kill him on his way back to his father.
Amidst all this, Karthi plays the part of Prince Aditha's detective cum messenger, sent to find out about the conspiracy in progress and inform the same to Princess Kundavai (Trisha) and Emperor Sundar. The princess further sends him to Prince Arulmozhi for updation of affairs and his safe return.
In the meantime, the intelligent and politically active princess keeps the civil unrest and plotting at rest, while Mandakini is busy influencing her husband, the Chola Treasure's political decisions and her own pursuit of justice.
Conclusion:
Given the complexity of the subject, the movie is quite well made, though it has it's limitations.
Am I looking forward to the sequel?
Hell yes, I am!!
I am very much interested to see the chain of events that led to the golden period of Chola dynasty. Also, how will such golden period be depicted?
I want to see the evident mysteries being solved.
I want to see the romance and chemistry between 4 evident pairs and I hope they transform on screen in true blue Mani Ratnam style, that is soulful and passionate, like Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), and Dil Se (1998).
Also, I want to see how their royal food table looked like? For some reason, no such scene was present in the entire movie.
