EXCLUSIVE: Ponniyin Selvan film's interesting journey from 1990 to 2018 - Producer Siva Ananth opens up! WATCH VIDEO!

Ponniyin Selvan 2 which is called the Magnum Opus of Mani Ratnam and has created history became the highest-grossing Tamil Film of the year in three weeks of release. The film has a huge cast that includes, Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi and others in pivotal roles. It was bankrolled by Lyca Productions and Madras Talkies. The film is based on the epic novel written by Kalki about the Chola Empire. The film also has music by Oscar Award winning composer A.R. Rahman

Siva Ananth, the executive producer of Madras Talkies that bankrolled Ponniyin Selvan 1 and 2, sat down for an exclusive interview with national award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the editor-in-chief of Galatta Plus. When asked about how and when director Mani Ratnam began making the film. The producer said it began many years ago. because around 1990, a Kamal Haasan interview came out about Ponniyin Selvan that it should be directed by Mani Ratnam. He said that is when he read the book and that is when he knew the director wanted to make it into a film. “Then when I joined him in 1998, He said No, I don’t know if this will happen. In 2003 we made an attempt, with screenplay and talked about casting but left it at that. In 2007, when I Joined Mr. Kamal, I asked about this, he said 'no, it has its own narrative issues and challenges'. In 2010, we made a big attempt because Jeyamohan was ropped in as a writer. And we went for six days across the Thanjai belt with Mani Ratnam. It was a great journey, in which we started Pattipulam from there through the Kaveri belt, and we talked about Chola history, Ponniyin Selvan and everything. That time, we thought about how Kalki would have thought while writing the story. Before, it could be mounted we dropped the film. So if you look at it for nearly 30 years ,he wanted to make this film. Probably, even before that when he read the book itself, he could have thought of making it into a film so that way it's a dream that has been there for three decades", said the producer Siva Ananth.

"In 2018, after we finished Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, sir worked on another script and when he came back, he said we are doing Ponniyin Selvan next. But immediately it was challenging. Then we talked and decided to make it into a two-part film. Because there were many challenges in the film on the creative side and we could not finish the story in three hours. That defined the production style." revealed the producer.