Ponniyin Selvan Book With Pictures Series Directors For

Not the one to give up easily, he took another brave plunge and officially restarted production in 2019 for a two-part movie, the first part slated for release in 2021.

What is widely considered to be the greatest novel ever in Tamil literature was written just 70 years ago.

You could even think of it as the Game of Thrones of its day, with fans waiting with bated breath for the next part to drop.

And its feverish fanhood continues to this day among Tamilians.

The emperor has two illustrious sons and an equally eminent daughter the elder son Aditha Karikalan is the general of the Northern Command in Kanchi, the second child of the emperor is the daughter Kundavai who lives in the royal household at Pazhayari and manages the empire from there, and the third child is the son Arulmozhi Varman, or the eponymous Ponniyin Selvan, who would go on to become famous later as Rajaraja Chozha I.

There is politics.

There is intrigue.

There are twists, and turns that make a joke out of those twists.

There is romance.

There is betrayal.

There is sacrifice.

And at the end of it all, the story of ascent to power of the man who became one of the greatest emperors in the history of the Indian subcontinent.

The author declares Prince Arulmozhi Varman the hero of the story.

But fans over the decades have instead given that title to Vandiyathevan.

Read Ponniyin Selvan for yourself to decide whether you agree with the author or the fans.

However, we tell you this: Vandiyathevan leads you through the plots, sub-plots, and it is through him that we meet most of the characters in the novel.

There are new revelations after every few pages and Kalki ensures he keeps you glued to it from page one of Part One to the last page of Part Five.

It is said that the serialised novel alone managed to lead the weekly circulation of the magazine to a whopping 71,366 copies.

Imagine this number in a newly-independent country where literacy even now is considered abysmal.

Ponniyin Selvan Book With Pictures Series Directors For

There is even a Sanskrit translation of the novel by Rajalakshmi Srinivasan It is absolutely no surprise then that the plot has gripped filmmakers and TV series directors for generations.

However, for all its success, Ponniyin Selvan has suffered from the same troubles and jinxes that faced JRR Tolkiens epic Lord of the Rings series.

However, he met with an accident before the shooting could begin and the film had to be shelved.

Kamal Haasan is also believed to have toyed with the idea of bringing Kalkis characters to the silver screen.

Similarly, an attempt to turn the book into a television serial by Makkal TV was also shelved.

Meanwhile, it is now in the hands of no less a filmmaker than Mani Ratnam to try to turn Ponniyin Selvan into a silver screen magnum opus.

The director announced in 2012 that he would be doing an adaptation of the novel.

However, even that had to be shelved because of budgetary constraints and difficulty finding financiers to back the project.