Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to start Mumbai schedule of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan: I

Mani Ratnam is now in Mumbai, filming the next schedule of his passion project Ponniyin Selvan: I (PS1). Along with actor Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who portrays the adversary in the film, will be in attendance for the shoot.

PS1 is based on the novel by the same name by author Kalki Krishnamurthy, published in 1955. Apart from Aishwarya and Karthi, the film also stars Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Jayaram, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram Prabhu, and Ashwin Kakumanu from the South, with R Sarathkumar, R Parthiban, Prabhu, Prakash Raj, and Rahman playing supporting roles.

Mani Ratnam's passion project, which was renewed in 2019, was initially attempted in the 1990s and then in the 2010s. Ponniyin Selvan was also attempted by the late MG Ramachandran in the 1950s, but that endeavour was also unsuccessful.

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According to several media reports, Vikram will be seen as Aditya Karikalan, the crown prince and the commander of northern troops in Sundara Chola’s reign, while Jayam Ravi will be essaying the role of Arulmozhivarman or Ponniyin Selvan, who came to be known as Raja Raja Chola later, and Karthi will be appearing as Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, a warrior prince of Vannar in the film. Aishwarya Rai will be seen as Nandini, while Trisha will be seen in the role of Kundavai Pirattiyar, a Chola princess.

Before Ponniyin Selvan, Mani Ratnam was on board as the co-creator of Netflix’s anthology Navarasa. The ensemble cast included popular actors like Suriya, Vijay Sethupathi, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Prakash Raj, Aditi Balan, Siddarth, Yogi Babu, Bobby Simha and Revathi among others. The nine-part anthology premiered on Netflix on August 6 last year.

While a large portion of PS1 was shot in various schedules beginning in 2019 and irregularly completed throughout the two years of the pandemic, the team is now shooting special sequences for the film.

The film 'PS1' is slated to release later this year and will feature music by AR Rahman.

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