Actor Elango Kumaravel to co-write Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan

Theatre artiste-turned-actor Elango Kumaravel, best known for acting in films such as Abhiyum Naanum (2008), Kurangu Bommai (2017) and Kaatrin Mozhi (2018), has been roped in to write the screenplay of Mani Ratnam’s film adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s epic novel, Ponniyin Selvan.

Elango had been involved in the writing process of Ponniyin Selvan when it was adapted for theatre in the 1990s. He had also played a popular character from Ponniyin Selvan when it was turned into a stage play.

He has also successfully adapted several historical novels during his stint with theatre. This will be hismaiden collaboration with Ratnam.

On landing an opportunity to work with the Roja (1992) filmmaker, he told Cinema Express.com: “I am currently working on the script. The pre-production will take a few more months. We are working hard to give the audience something very special.”

While Elango didn’t spill beans about the film’s cast, he did confirm that many stars are part of this ambitious project which is mostly to take off in the next couple of months.

So far, it is learnt from reliable sources that Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Mohan Babu have been signed on for the project. Amala Paul is also believed to have been signed recently.

Ratnam, who has almost put together his team for the project, is currently in talks with Reliance Entertainment to co-produce the project which could be easily be the most expensive film in the filmmaker’s career.

AR Rahman has been signed to compose music. The industry grapevine is that Santosh Sivan, frequent collaborator will Ratnam, will return as cinematographer.