Historical films need to be close to reality, cannot fantasise things: Mani Ratnam

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam on Tuesday said the objective with historical films should be to stay honest about the events and yet make the story contemporary for the audience.

The critically-acclaimed director, who is awaiting the release of Ponniyin Selvan II, said one cannot add elements to a period story that are not real.

"Whatever film you make, you try to make it as well as you can. But when it is a period drama and when it is historical, you try to go as close as you cannot fantasise about it and add elements that are not real. (You) try to bring it as close to reality as possible.

"This film (is) treated in that fashion and the objective while making (it) was simple, it should look like it is happening now or it should look like we are there next to the characters. So, it was shot, it was put together and performed casually and not like a historical drama so everything added to that," the director told reporters here at the press conference of Ponniyin Selvan 2.

Ratnam also said that he doesn't agree with the phrase "pan-India movie", which gained popularity in the last few years owing to the success of movies such as SS Rajamouli's Baahubali franchise, RRR, Allu Arjun’s Pushpa: The Rise, KGF starring Kannada star Yash and Kantara.

"I absolutely agree. We should take away the word pan-India as it has always been India," the 66-year-old filmmaker said.

Ratnam's two-part Ponniyin Selvan is an adaptation of author Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 Tamil novel of the same name. It chronicles the story of the early days of Arulmozhivarman (Jayam Ravi), one of the most powerful kings in the south, who went on to become the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I.

The first part was released in September 2022.

The Tamil language epic marks Ratnam's fourth collaboration with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan after Iruvar, Raavanan, and Guru.

The director said he has always approached Aishwarya whenever he felt she is best suited to play a character in his movies.

"Filmmakers are very very selfish people, absolutely heartless and selfish, the only thing they care for is the film. How much ever I love her (Aishwarya), I will ask her only if I think she is right for the role.

"Every time I have asked her it is because I have believed that she was absolutely right for the role and she has been nice enough to say yes. So, she is not just a lucky charm for me, it is her talent and her personality that was right to portray this character," he said.

Asked about the possibility of making a third part of Ponniyin Selvan, Ratnam said, "Maybe but I don't know who will make it."

Also starring Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Shobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Prakash Raj, Ponniyin Selvan II will be released worldwide on Friday in Tamil along with the dubbed versions in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam.