Mani Ratnam‘s ambitious period drama ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’ has kicked off its promos in right earnest this July. The epic film also revealed its final release date this week. Ponniyin Selvan 1, aka PS-1, is slated to release in theatres on September 30, 2022. Film buffs and Mani Ratnam’s legions of fans have gone into a delightful tizzy ever since Ponniyin Selvan’s promos began this week.
The promotions for Ponniyin Selvan 1 are going at a great clip. Producers Mani Ratnam and Lyca Productions have amped up the excitement for PS-1 by launching the character posters of the primary characters in the film. Yesterday, the makers revealed the character poster for Aditya Karikalan, the Crown Prince of the fast-rising Chola Empire. Chiyaan Vikram is playing the character in Ponniyin Selvan 1. The posters of Vikram as Aditya Karikalan received a lot of appreciation for their attention to detail, as well as Vikram’s fierce but royal look in the poster.
This morning, Mani Ratnam’s Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions unveiled the next character poster from Ponniyin Selvan 1 – Karthi as Vanthiyathevan, the warrior prince of the Vannar Clan. Karthi looks bold and befitting in his intriguing character of a “Prince without a kingdom”.
While the Ponniyin Selvan posters are undoubtedly attractive and eye-catching, they are missing one very very important point. Ponniyin Selvan 1 is touted to be a pan-Indian film, to be released in multiple Indian languages, namely, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. However, the makers, in their own wisdom, are Ponniyin Selvan 1 only in its original Tamil language. Both Ponniyin Selvan 1 posters have been launched only in two versions – Tamil, and a standard English poster.
No promos whatsoever for Ponniyin Selvan have been released in any other Indian language up till now – from the time the film revealed its first posters, to completion of filming, and now the pre-release promos. The way Ponniyin Selvan promotions are going, we don’t think the makers will launch other language posters for the remaining characters as well – including the much-awaited poster of Aishwarya Rai as Nandini. The posters launch has left social media users wondering if Ponniyin Selvan is indeed releasing in multiple Indian languages or not.
It’s quite weird for a film that harps on being a true-blue pan-India film to not launch any promos at all in the other languages it proposes to release in. It’s a major oversight from the stakeholders of Ponniyin Selvan, one that could alienate other language viewers from the get go. Ponniyin Selvan has stirred up quite a lot of interest among film-goers, all of whom are quite miffed with zero posters in their preferred languages of Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.
If Ponniyin Selvan 1 aims to hit it big as a legit pan-India film from the Tamil film industry (few and far between), it must rectify this glaring mistake at once. It must unveil promotional material in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi also, besides Tamil and English. PS-1 must follow the template of ‘Brahmastra’, its rival at the theatres this September. Brahmastra has launched extensive promos in all South Indian languages, despite being a Hindi film. Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan and Nagarjuna, Brahmastra hits theatres on September 9.
Ponniyin Selvan is an epic period drama, adapted from the 1955 novel ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The film boasts a huge ensemble cast of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in a double role, Trisha, Karthi, Jayaram, Jayam Ravi, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi, Prabhu, Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu and Ashwin Kakumanu. The music for the film has been composed by A R Rahman, while Mani Ratnam has directed the film, and co-produced it under his banner, Madras Talkies, along with Lyca Productions. Ponniyin Selvan will release in two parts, Ponniyin Selvan 1 and Ponniyin Selvan 2.