Mani Ratnam is currently in the process of making his dream project come alive. Yes! We are talking about Ponniyin Selvan which will be Mani Ratnam’s next directorial venture. This historical epic features a stellar cast that includes Chiyaan Vikram (Aditya Karikalan), Jayam Ravi (Arul Mozhi Varman/Ponniyin Selvan), Karthi (Vandiyathevan), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha (Kundhavai), Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram Prabhu, Ashwin Kakamanu, Prabhu, Jayaram, Sarath Kumar, Rahman, Mohan Raman, ‘Aadukalam’ Kishore, Riyaz Khan, Sobhita Dhulipala, Arjun Chidambaram and others.

Having said that, it has now been revealed that veteran actor Nizhalgal Ravi is also a part of this mega biggie. Yes! Nizhalgal Ravi will be seen playing the role of Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar. In a recent interview, Nizhalgal Ravi said, “I am playing Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar character in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan. He asked me to grow my hair and beard for that role. The shooting has been currently stalled due to Corona. I guess we will most likely resume shooting in October.” Interesting, right?

As Nizhalgal Ravi says, let us hope that the shooting of Ponniyin Selvan resumes soon but practically it will be quite a challenging task for Mani Ratnam and team to execute a film of this caliber during the pandemic. The makers are currently said to be figuring out on how to proceed with the shoot after the pandemic with precautionary measures. Two schedules have been completed so far. The film's release date will be finalized depending on the shooting plans. This film will be produced by Madras Talkies in association with Lyca Productions on a huge budget.

Ponniyin Selvan is being made as a two-part film and it will have music scored by A.R.Rahman. In one of his earlier interviews, Rahman had said that Ponniyin Selvan is the most challenging project in his career. The cinematography of Ponniyin Selvan is handled by Ravi Varman while the editing is taken care of by Sreekar Prasad. Based on the historical novel of the same name penned by Kalki Krishnamurthy, the film's screenplay is penned by Mani Ratnam, Siva Ananth and Elango Kumaravel. Jeyamohan has penned the dialogues for this film.