Ponniyin Selvan (PS) - 1 : Movie Review

The genius Mani Ratnam has come up with his dream project after 4 years of his last release Nawab (Chekka Chivantha Vaanam in Tamil). Ponniyin Selvan has been his dream project and Mani Ratnam wanted to bring it to big screen since many years and finally it materialised. With an ensemble cast and crew, PS-1 released finally after multiple breaks  in shooting since 2020 due to the pandemic.

Story :- Sundara Chola (Prakash Raj), who is the king of Chola dynasty falls ill and it is time to announce the next king in Tanjavur. His eldest son Aditha Karikaludu (Vikram) is the heir to the throne. He doesn't want to come to Tanjavur and is waging war after war on multiple kingdoms with his army. Hearing that some coup is happening in the kingdom, Aditha sends his friend cum warrior Vanthiyadevudu (Karthi) to secretly knew what was happening and inform the same to his father and his sister Kundavai about the same. Vanthiyadevudu begins his journey and finds that, Pedda Paluvettarayudu (Sarath Kumar) who is the treasurer of Chola kingdom is planning a coup in the kingdom with the help of other Samantharayulu to announce Madhurantaka (Rahman) as the next king, since  Madhurantaka's father was king before Sundara Chola and he shifted to spiritual ways and gave kingdom to Sundara Chola as Madhurantaka was too young then. In this journey, Karthi also meets Paluvettarayudu's wife Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) who is planning the coup from behind as she has an hidden past to do so. Kundavai asks Vanthiyadevudu to inform about the coup to her younger brother Arunmozhi Varma (Jayam Ravi) who is fighting a war in Lanka and bring him back to Tanjavur. Also, Sundara Chola sends Kundavai to bring Aditha to Tanjavur. If both the brothers join together in Tanjavur it is tough to announce Madhurantaka as king. To stop the brothers from coming together, Paluvettarayudu and Nandini sketches a plan. Were they successful in doing so? Why Aditha doesn't want to come to Tanjavur? What is the relation between Aditha and Nandini? What is Nandini's past and why she is planning the coup? Who is Ponniyin Selvan and how did that name came? These form the rest of the story. 

Performances:- Karthi gets a meatier role compared to others and we see the story mostly through his version. He did a commendable job and he brings the lighter mood to an otherwise serious drama. Jayam Ravi only enters in 2nd half and he suits to the prince role. Trisha as the princess is gorgeous and she did a good job. Aishwarya Rai has the most toughest role and she nailed it with both beauty and performance. I personally felt Vikram is a misfit for the role. He looked old and overboard in some instances. The only reason to choose him could be to match Aishwarya's age and to bring back memories of their previous outing Villain. There is a huge cast and they all excelled in their space.

Technicians :- Ponniyin Selvan is a based on Kalki's novel which comprises of 5 books, which is based upon real life incidents during Chola dynasty and some fictional elements. To compress them into 2 part film is a tough task and Mani Ratnam did a good job in doing so. Being a periodic film, the tone and colour of the film are completely different when compared to Mani Ratnam's regular flavour of Grey, Blue, Black. There are too many characters and their names are also of tamilian style, which makes us tough to register and remember. Had they introduced us to the characters with names through posters before release of film like how Rajamouli did with Bahubali it would have been easier. Mani Ratnam didn't concentrate much on graphics or war scenes, thus they aren't not visual extravaganza. However, the climax fight sequence in the sea was well shot. AR Rahman background score elevates the movie well. After a long time, liked few songs of Rahman. Song placements are also good. Ravi Varman cinematography is superb. Editing by Sreekar Prasad is apt as they couldn't delete anything. 

Positives:-

Story & Drama

Leas cast and their performances

Karthi

Negatives:-

No goosebumps stuff

Not a visual extravaganza

Summary:-  PS-1 is a story driven novel based film with lot of drama. Mani Ratnam sticked to the same and didn't take any cinematic routes. People might tend to label it as slow, boring due to the same, but I liked the story and narration. For any 2 part film, the end of the 1st part should leave audience in a suspense so that they shall wait anxiously for the 2nd part and Mani Ratnam did exactly the same. The last shot makes people wait for 2nd part. 

Rating :- 3/5. Definitely watchable on big screen.

Being a periodic drama and war based movie, people compare every frame and war scene with Bahubali and feel this is a lame attempt which is not correct. Rajamouli is known for emotional & elevation scenes, hero centric films and graphical extravaganza, which is his core competency and he is a commercial blockbuster director like Shankar. Well, that's not the case with master storyteller Mani Ratnam. He is into realistic movies, subtle expression, simple stories and more of drama. He sticked to the same even in PS-1. Let's not compare Sachin with Virat.