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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan exudes royalty in the new poster of Mani Ratman’s Ponniyin Selvan – 1

The upcoming film is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 Tamil novel of the same name.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan exudes royalty in the new poster of Mani Ratman’s Ponniyin Selvan – 1

Last seen in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s production Fanney Khan in 2018, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been missing from the silver screen for close to four years now. However, she is now set to stage her comeback with her mentor Mani Ratman’s much-anticipated period drama Ponniyin Selvan – 1, which has been in production for more than three years now.

The makers of Ratnam’s upcoming magnum opus on Wednesday released a new poster of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. In the poster, the actress stands tall in a graceful orange kanjeevaram saree draped in the front pallu style twirled on the arm.


Ratnam’s Madras Talkies, which is co-producing the two-part film franchise, took to Twitter to share Aishwarya’s poster as Nandini, the Queen of Pazhuvoor who is motivated by “vengeance”.   “Vengeance has a beautiful face! Meet Nandini, the Queen of Pazhuvoor! #PS1 releasing in theatres on 30th September in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada,” the banner said in a tweet.

In addition to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the ensemble star cast of Ponniyin Selvan – 1 also includes Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Jayam Ravi, and Aishwarya Lekshmi in pivotal roles.

The first part of Ponniyin Selvan reunites Aishwarya with Ratnam following her acting debut in 1997 Iruvar (Tamil), Guru (the 2007 Hindi film), and the 2010 Hindi movie Raavan.

The upcoming film is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 Tamil novel of the same name, which chronicles the story of the early days of Arulmozhivarman, one of the most powerful kings in the south, who went on to become the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I.

Also backed by Lyca Productions, Ponniyin Selvan has Ratnam also serving as co-writer on the screenplay with Elango Kumaravel, while B Jeyamohan has been credited as the dialogue writer. The film has music by AR Rahman.

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Yash says Ravana in Ramayana must connect with Western viewers as film eyes global audience

Highlights

  • Yash says he humanised Ravana to help global audiences relate to the character.
  • Asura designs in the first glimpse drew criticism for looking too Western-inspired.
  • Producer Namit Malhotra compares the film's tone to Lord of the Rings and Gladiator.
Yash, who plays the demon king Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana, says his portrayal was shaped by one clear goal: making the character relatable beyond Indian audiences.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, where the film was presented alongside major Hollywood releases, the actor said he worked to strip away the purely mythological reading of the role.

"I have tried to internalise the whole essence of Ravana and tried to make him as human as possible at times," Yash told Reuters.

"It is important for people to relate to him, and since we have global ambitions, we need to make it familiar to a Western audience as well."

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