Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s and Mani Ratnam’s association go a long way back. The director and actress have given some magnificent films over the years. Now, the buzz is that the two are planning to collaborate once again on a project. Ratnam has been in the process of adapting Tamil novel Ponniyin Selvan for the celluloid written by Kalki for a very long time. In fact, he tried to rope in Vijay and Mahesh Babu as well for the lead role but the talks didn’t lead anywhere. Now, reportedly the director has started working on the project and is in talks with Jayam Ravi, Vikram, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya and Mohan Babu for the film.
Aishwarya is being approached for the role of Nandhini who is considered to be the deadliest character of the novel with shades of grey. She is forcefully married to Periya Pazhuvetarayar, a role that speculatively will be played by Mohan Babu. Ratnam has approached Jayam Ravi for the role of Arul Mozhi Varman and Vikram has been asked to play the role of Aditya Karikalan.
Apparently, this is a dream project of Ratnam’s and will be a mammoth task to adapt the iconic novel according to celluloid. However, no official confirmation about the project has come out. Apparently, the film’s budget will be a big constraint for the director as adapting the novel is no mean task.
MGR and Kamal Haasan have also tried to adapt it for Ponniyin Selvan, This is not the first time that a film is being planned on the novel screen. However, they faced a lot of difficulties and eventually moved on to other projects. The story revolves around Arul Mozhi Varman who went on to become the Great King Raja Raja Chozhan. Reportedly, it took Kalki three years to complete the novel.
(Source: India Today)
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