No mention of lyricist in Ponniyin Selvan title poster

The title poster of Mani Ratnam’s upcoming magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan was unveiled on Thursday. The poster features a sword with a golden hilt and bears the emblem of the Chola kingdom along with the words ‘Beginning of the Golden Era’.

Interestingly, the poster features the names of all key members of the crew, except the lyricist. Not long ago, reports had emerged that veteran lyricist Vairamuthu had been signed for the project; however, he is said to have been eventually dropped after he was accused of sexual harassment by singer Chinmayi Sripaada.

While the makers and director Mani Ratnam himself were silent over the supposed inclusion of Vairamuthu in the project, recent reports suggest the award-winning lyricist is no longer part of the Ponniyin Selvan team. No wonder the makers have not mentioned any lyricist in the poster.

As per the poster, AR Rahman will compose the music, Ravi Varman will shoot the film and A Sreekar Prasad will edit it. Thotta Tharani is in charge of production design and writer Jeyamohan is writing the dialogues.

Sharing credits for the screenplay with Mani Ratnam is Kumaravel. Eka Lakhani will take care of the costumes while Vikram Gaikwad is in charge of makeup. Brinda has been roped in for the choreography while veteran action director Sham Kaushal is in charge of the action. The film is being jointly produced by Mani Ratnam and Lyca Productions. Siva Ananth is the film’s executive producer.

Ponniyin Selvan went on the floors last week in Thailand, where the first schedule will be filmed over 90 days. Stars Karthi, Jayam Ravi and Aishwarya Lakshmi are part of the first schedule. The cast so far includes Vikram, Vikram Prabhu, Amitabh Bachchan, Mohan Babu and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.