We are very confident: Vikram on Ponniyin Selvan II

With the release of Ponniyin Selvan II, all the pieces of Mani Ratnam's magnum opus will come together, said acclaimed actor Vikram on Tuesday.

The actor, who plays Aditha Karikalan in the pan-India film, said the team didn't think the first part of the historical fiction drama, based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 Tamil novel of the same name, will break "all records in south". What they knew was that it would be received well as it was true to the Tamil culture.

"We are very confident (about part two).  The (part one of the) film was loved in Tamil because it was very true to what was written all those years ago. And they loved that. So, there was no misinterpretation. We didn't change anything. The second part that we are doing now, there are certain endings that we are leaving open," Vikram told reporters.

The two-part Ponniyin Selvan 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.

Ponniyin Selvan I was praised for its aesthetic value and layered characters and was reported as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2022. Vikram said the whole cast would be ready to reprise their roles if Ratnam ever makes a third part. "If Mani sir asks us to come back for 'Ponniyin Selvan 3', we'll all be there," he added.

The actor also spoke about why the movie perhaps did better in the south than in the Hindi-speaking belt. "Whenever we are releasing the film, we never go with 'Will this work?' You think it's going to work, no matter how bad the film is from anybody's point of view. The kind of response we got for part one, we weren't surprised. We didn't think that it would break all records in south or Tamil Nadu, especially, but we knew it was going to do well... Second part is what everybody would want to see," Vikram added.

The actor was speaking at a press conference ahead of the film's release on April 28. He was accompanied by co-stars Ravi, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Sobhita Dhulipala.

Also starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Prakash Raj, and Jayaram, Ponniyin Selvan II will be released worldwide in Tamil along with the dubbed versions in Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam.