Thalapathy Vijay and Mahesh Babu were the initial choices for Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan.

Ponniyin Selvan is a novel that holds a special place in everyone’s hearts even today. Naturally, the organization and illustrious life of the Chola king Arulmozhi Varman, also known as Raja Raja Chozhan, attracted Mani Ratnam’s attention. According to Mairatnam’s assistant Dhana, the director wanted to make Ponniyin Selvan in 2010.

Legendary director Mani Ratnam’s long time dream was to direct Ponniyin Selvan based on the Tamil literary novel of the same name written by Kalki Krishnamurthy. Although many attempts were made to turn Ponniyin Selvan into a film, it did not materialize due to budget and cast issues. After a decade, Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 is all set for a grand release on 30 September 2022.

During discussions regarding the film, Mani Ratnam and Jayamohan also sought advice from their assistants. Dhana also revealed that Mani Ratnam has approached Mahesh Babu, Thalapathy Vijay and Karthi to play pivotal roles in Ponniyin Selvan. But due to some reasons, the director decided to drop the film before shooting it.

However, Director Mani Ratnam’s dream came true. He has roped in a stellar cast for Ponniyin Selvan. The film Ponniyin Selvan features Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Chiyaan Vikram, Trisha, Karthi and Jayam Ravi play lead roles. While Prakash Raj, Sarathkumar, Prabhu, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Jayaram and several others plays the supporting characters.