Earlier this morning (July 19), ace filmmaker Mani Ratnam was hospitalized at a private hospital in Chennai and reports started to speculate that he tested positive for Covid 19. However, according to the latest developments, the test results have reportedly turned out to be negative and he is said to be doing fine. Both sides of the story are doing rounds on social media and we will have to wait for an official statement from the hospital for better clarity. However, we wish Mani Ratnam a speedy recovery to return to good health very soon.

On the professional front, Mani Ratnam is currently busy with the post production works of his highly anticipated historical epic Ponniyin Selvan which has got huge expectations among the movie buffs. Ponniyin Selvan is a two part film and the first part of it will be hitting the screens on September 30. The film will have a pan Indian release in 5 different languages - Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, and the film will have a wide release across the globe. The teaser of Ponniyin Selvan PS 1 was released a few days back and it opened to an overwhelming response from the audiences, making them hyped and excited.

Ponniyin Selvan features an ensemble star cast that includes the likes of Chiyaan Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram Prabhu, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, Jayaram, Lal, Prakash Raj, Sarath Kumar, R Parthiban, Jaya Chitra, Mohan Raman, Riyaz Khan, Aadukalam Kishore, Rahman, and others. Chiyaan Vikram will be seen playing the character of Aditya Karikalan while Jayam Ravi and Karthi would be playing Ponniyin Selvan and Vanthiya Thevan respectively. A.R.Rahman has composed music for this film that has screenplay penned by Elango Kumaravel, Siva Ananth, and Mani Ratnam. Jeyamohan has penned the dialogues. Details regarding the release plans of the second part are yet to be known.