It is well known that maverick director Mani Ratnam has begun work to realise his long time dream of adapting the historical Tamil epic Ponniyin Selvan onto celluloid. There have been a lot of speculations regarding the cast of this magum opus with names like Chiyaan Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai, Parthiban, Mohan Babu and the legendary Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan being touted to be a part of this movie. It has now been reported that the shoot for this movie will begin some time in November with the lead stars, all growing long hair to suit their characters in this historic epic.

<a href=Mani Ratnam Ponniyin Selvan" src="https://d1ydle56j7f53e.cloudfront.net/assets/general-images/1569309157Random (3).jpg" style="width: 360px; height: 270px;" title="Chiyaan Vikram in Ponniyin Selvan" />

Ponniyin Selvan is an epic novel written by Kalki Krishnamurthy, based on the times of Raja Raja Cholan 1. Chiyaan Vikram is said to be playing the role of Aditya Karikalan, while Jayam Ravi is reportedly playing Raja Raja Cholan 1 and Karthi is touted to play Vanthiyathevan. Keerthy might be playing Kundavai with Aishwarya Rai reportedly playing Nandhini and Mohan Babu playing her husband Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar. None of this has been confirmed as yet, officially.

Mani Ratnam Ponniyin Selvan

Lyca Productions would be bankrolling this multi-starrer with the movie reportedly being made in two parts. Some sections of the media also speculate that for the first time ever, Mani Ratnam has planned to shoot a very lengthy schedule overseas, with the forests of Thailand being speculated as the choice location. There are said to be some very high octane action sequences for which the actors are prepping themselves. Watch this space for more updates...

Mani Ratnam Ponniyin Selvan from November