Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 to be released on 30 September, main characters' looks unveiled

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s long-awaited magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1, based on the epic novel by Kalki, will be released worldwide on 30 September.

Lyca Productions, the makers of the film, took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce the release date and unveil the first look posters of Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Trisha. 

The makers only revealed one of the characters of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who plays a dual role. 

The film’s title poster was unveiled in January 2020. The film had gone on the floors in Thailand where a major portion of the first schedule was shot before it was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.  

The poster features a sword with a golden hilt and it bears the emblem of the Chola kingdom along with the words ‘Beginning of the Golden Era’. 

In 2021, when reports emerged that award-winning lyricist Vairamuthu was part of the project, netizens took to Twitter to question Mani as the former had been accused of sexual harassment by singer Chinmayi.

While the makers and Mani were silent over the inclusion of Vairamuthu, recent reports suggest that Vairamuthu is no longer part of the project. 

The film, which has been shot by Ravi Varman, features music by AR Rahman. Sreekar Prasad is in charge of editing while Thota Tharani and writer Jeyamohan were roped in for production design and dialogues respectively.

Actor Kumaravel shares credits for the screenplay along with Mani.

The film has been jointly produced by Mani and Lyca Productions.