Ponniyin Selvan not shelved, shoot to resume post lockdown

Chennai

There was a lot of speculation doing the rounds on Ponniyin Selvan since the lockdown began in March. There were reports that the film was jinxed and director Mani Ratnam had shelved the project yet again. On Thursday, it was also rumoured that Mani had moved on from the magnum opus and will be directing a new project that will have Arvind Swami playing the lead role.

When we contacted Siva Ananth of Madras Talkies, the executive producer of Ponniyin Selvan, said, “These are baseless rumours. Ponniyin Selvan has not been not scrapped. The project has the call sheet of all the stars. We are going for the shoot post lockdown with necessary safety measures. Any rumours around Mani sir moving on from Ponniyin Selvan should be ruled out.”

The film is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s periodbased fictional novel of the same name and is being made in two parts. While Aishwarya Rai is said to be playing a dual role in the film, the ensemble cast also includes Vikram, Trisha, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi.