Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality… (continued from earlier post)

Posted on October 1, 2022

Spoilers ahead…

All the actors are fantastic in this character-driven first part that perfectly sets the stage for the second installment, which can now hit the ground running.

You can read the review here:

https://www.galatta.com/tamil/movie/review/ponniyin-selvan-1/

And you can watch the video review here:

Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Cinema: Kannada, Cinema: Malayalam, Cinema: Tamil, Cinema: Telugu, OTT / TV / Online

171 Responses “Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality… (continued from earlier post)” →

brangan

October 1, 2022

On Rahini’s suggestion, starting a new thread for this (she said it was becoming hard to load the page)…

Anyway, too many comments and I can’t remember all, but just wanted to address the one about the visual aesthetic. For me, it worked wonderfully because — like I said in the review — very few shots looked “composed” and “this is a film of constant movement” (the cinematography takes its cue from the narrative).

Like when Karthi is on the boat, we see Kundhavai but we also sense Vanathi because the shot-taking is sometimes from her POV (like an OTS or something).

Like when ‘Devaralan aattam’ is happening, it is not staged like a static set piece (like song sequences usually are), and the moving camera captures a conversation — like real life. In the sense that if you are watching a live show, there is bound to be a moment you turn to someone else and discuss something or whip out your smartphone or something. That was the feel here.

Another point regarding the comment about the BAAHUBALI comparisons — but they are not even the same universe, no? This is “drama”. That is action/adventure/fantasy.

Another point: I loved how there was always a subtle layer of emotion in the scenes. Mani could have easily have had Nandini crawl up in bed to her husband and seduce him and then ask “may I make a suggestion?” , but here the seduction is achieved with a simple turn and a request about the necklace. With that one move, he is seduced and thinking not with his head but with his you-know-what. And then she says “may I make a suggestion”. Despite what people say, I feel there is a lot of Mani in this movie — in the staging, in the direction.

And about the Kundhavai-Nandini face-offs, I loved the fact that the fireworks were limited to the expressions and the lines that gave a sense of their equation, like how Nandini tells Kundavai her arrival is unexpected in that room. Aishwarya’s expressions are magnificent. I have said this before, but somehow, she comes truly alive only with Mani Ratnam, Bhansali (and the late Rituparno Ghosh).

And I truly respect her commitment to lip-sync, which cannot be easy — and many directors would get around it by focusing on a co-star’s reaction shot. But from the IRUVAR/JEANS days, she has been very diligent in this aspect.

And Trisha was unbelievably on point with her looks and reaction shots. That scene with Vikram where she finally asserts herself was awesome. In fact, it was Vikram and Karthi who were less “surprising” for me here. They are very good, of course, but there’s also a “we know they can do that and have already done that” feel to their performances.

I know commercial constraints won’t allow it in our cinema (like someone said, filmmakers will never get the full freedom they want if they are looking for a hit) — but I would love to see Vikram in something like a HAMLET adaptation. As he’s grown older, his ability to express pain and haunted-ness and all those serious emotions has only increased.

LikeLiked by 6 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

IF the dialogue clips in this video review by Anupama Chopra are representative, then I would say the dubbing’s completely missed the bus. Maybe dubbing is always this bad and it’s just that when the OG dialogues aren’t so heavy, it’s easier to get across the gist. But here it’s just laugh-worthy to me. I HOPE they have done a better job in Telugu but if not, it would explain the trashing the film’s getting in non-Tamil versions.

LikeLike
brangan

October 1, 2022

Rescued this comment from Chanakya….

I agree with Kairam Vashi more on this occasion than with BR, except for Kairam’s wish for more ‘highs’ and Aishwarya Rai’s presence. I was certainly underwhelmed, though not disappointed. It did feel like a highlights reel. It simply reinforced my belief (and so many others’) that this story deserved a longer format. Feature films can not do justice to this epic story.

I have two big gripes with this film. First, Aishwarya Rai. She fails miserably to convey the emotions of Nandini. Nor does she look the part. The nature of Pazhuvettarayar and Nandini’s relationship is that of an old man lusting after a young girl. In the film, probably due to makeup and lighting, she looks like a middle-aged woman. Their relationship doesn’t seem scandalous at all.

The second one is geography. If you didn’t have prior knowledge of the geography of the Chozha kingdom and Sri Lanka, you would be utterly confused as to what’s happening where. I understand that they had to teleport characters from one place to another to compress the runtime. But I lost my bearings in the second half for a moment. I didn’t know where the characters were. Mani Ratnam could have sprinkled a few shots here and there to show the long distances they had to travel and how far apart they all were from Tanjore.

Also, did anyone else feel that the battles looked like the battles from the 60s and 70s movies?

LikeLike
brangan

October 1, 2022

Madan: But how is this film a “slow burn”? Isn’t there always something happening?

I totally get someone not liking or hating a film for whatever their reasons are, but… how is this a “slow” movie?

LikeLiked by 4 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

” But how is this film a “slow burn”? Isn’t there always something happening?

I totally get someone not liking or hating a film for whatever their reasons are, but… how is this a “slow” movie?”

shrugs Your guess is as good as mine. It’s like what rag also said. You have to literally set the theater on fire to wake up people these days. There’s been an overdose of mass action in big budget movies this year and maybe that’s completely skewered expectations. Me, I felt I had to be attentive throughout to keep up with the narrative so I don’t get how this is slow burn at all.

LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan

October 1, 2022

Chennai folks who saw this on IMAX – was it a good experience? In the sense that sometimes films that are blown up for IMAX lose some detailing in the aspect ratio or colours (happened with PADMAAVAT for me), hence the question! Would really like to see this on a bigger screen.

LikeLiked by 1 person
vijay

October 1, 2022

BR, apart from being a popular novel what do you think about the book would have inspired Mani to make it into a film? It seems like he did’nt have any brething space and had to quckly jump from one subplot to another, as Anupama’s review indicates..for those familiar with novel that may not ean issue, but for the others that may pose a chalenge..also why did you think the highlight-reel aproach worked here while it didnt in CCV? is it because of your familiarity with the novel? (you already know what the characters are up to hence you didnt care for too much of background and stuff..)

LikeLike
Madan

October 1, 2022

vijay : As someone who has not read the book, this did not feel like a highlight reel to me. There are definitely interludes especially in the banter between Vandhiyadevan and Nambi. Or Karikalan recounting his fling with Nandini and how it ended badly, what Kundavai’s role was in sabotaging his efforts to marry Nandini. These are essentially the portions that introduce us to more dimensions of the characters. So it’s definitely not event 1-2-3-4 in a procession though it’s more linear that I would expect from Mani.

LikeLike
Aman Basha

October 1, 2022

About it being a slow burn, a Tamil friend of mine said that it lacks the ‘WOW’ moments that RRR had. The battle scenes and the VFX have not exactly won acclaim here and with Rajamouli spoiling people with such dazzling visuals, there would be a sense of dissatisfaction.
One could say that this is a more real historical drama but the complaint still stands, the VFX was very unimpressive even in the trailers.
As I also said earlier, this is not a pan India smash, it’s localized and specific to speak to a broader audience. You could make it appeal wider with some out-there sequences but Mani doesn’t seem to have done that.

LikeLike
vijay

October 1, 2022

Cant expect Telugu/Hindi audiences to fully connect with this milieu and this kind of storytelling, understandable..It was anyway half-expected that this film may not the move the needle outside of TN and overseas markets(where Mani’s tamil fan base is) anmd it’s good that the filmmaker didnt make any concessions for this..

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

Aman Basha : Well, it’s the loss of people who went in with preconceived expectations. I mean, Mani will get back his money, release pt2 and be done. But the whole Indian film universe cannot be expected to bend and shape shift to resemble RRR and Baahubali.

It’s interesting that these chaps give the movie a lot more latitude than Hindi and Telugu reviewers. Maybe complete unfamiliarity is sometimes better than a notion of familiarity (because it’s Indian) that dismisses regional nuances as unnecessary or bad.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Anand Raghavan

October 1, 2022

My parents too want to see this in IMax, thanks for asking this , any answers would help me also.

LikeLike
Aman Basha

October 1, 2022

@Madan: It’s not about being like RRR and Bahubali, let me put it this way: Do you think the VFX matches Bahubali, forget RRR? And Mani Ratnam, for all his faults, has had top tier technical values. The comparison with Bahubali and RRR is more about the quality of the special effects IMO. If the VFX had been better, the film would have certainly pulled more audience.

LikeLike
Madan

October 1, 2022

Aman Basha : I don’t think the VFX is as good as RRR or Baahubali but the characterisation is stronger and the plot being dense is not a problem for me because I don’t want amar chitra katha in every film. It doesn’t feel like there is that balance in the critical reviews. The focus seems to be only on what it doesn’t have that Baahubali does, not what it does have in spades that Baahubali doesn’t. Now I am not going to go back and issue a revisionist take saying this is how SSR should have made Baahubali. No, that’s a different animal with different beats from this one. It was great in its way and so is this.

LikeLiked by 2 people
shaviswa

October 1, 2022

@BR

Also it was good that Mani Ratnam did not go overboard with the Nandini-Kunthavai interaction. Because even in the novel, it is not an all-out confrontation. There is this fact that she is married to one of Chozha kingdom’s senior most person and hence has to be respected for that fact. So sparks do fly but they are contained by both characters. Looks like MR stuck to that aspect in the film.

Also I do feel that Kalki did not indicate anywhere that Pazhuvettaraiyar and Nandini have consummated their relationship. I distinctly remember a sequence where Pazhuvettaraiyar asks Nandini why he is making him wait and Nandini responds that she will be completely his once she realises her life ambitions – and then segues into how she wants to get even at Kunthavai since she is bitching behind Pazhuvettaraiyar’s back about him being bewitched by a young girl. So the seduction has to be subtle and not very overt.

The more I read these snippets from you and others who have seen the film, the more I feel MR has not moved away from Kalki’s core characterisation of these characters.

LikeLiked by 3 people
therag

October 1, 2022

I didn’t think the vfx was outright bad anywhere? One place where the vfx stood out is scenes with fire. But that is not specific to PS-1, all films today have that very distracting artificial fire. I imagine this is due to regulation and hesitation to use real fire to prevent any accidents. This is similar to all scenes with gunfire in Hollywood movies post Heat. Heat has the best gunfire battle scene in cinema IMHO but after the movie I believe they stopped using real blanks and their sounds to prevent copycat shoot-outs in real-life (a very valid concern IMHO). So the gunfire you see in subsequent movies is like a Deepavali Matthappu being fired. Checkout the Heat shoot-out scene and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

I’d imagine it is harder to get the vfx right for a movie like this – a very grounded historical fiction. I think people are more forgiving of vfx in movies like Baahubali which are generally more fantastical and massy. It didn’t affect my enjoying either PS-1 or Baahubali-1. I should say that tree-slinging scene in Baahubali-2 was genuinely bad.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Ruminating Aesthete

October 1, 2022

This is something I once wrote as a critique in a workshop: A fictional piece from a certain period becomes irrelevant if it doesn’t acknowledge that it’s in fact an artifact of the present. Period piece or not there should be constant confrontations between happenings that are separated by this variable we call time (and afford too much meaning to.) Think Marie Antoinette (the use of songs), and even our very own Urumi (the way prabhudeva speaks)

I think a film maker has to take liberties especially when faced with mounting a novel. To me the songs felt as essential set pieces in bringing out character and they also help us in situating ourself in a period’s milieu and coerces the audience to accept the things for what they are.

In PS1 I just couldn’t see characterizations happening in the usual MR way they weren’t developing in fragments and surely not dialectically; guess he was forced to follow the book. There was a linearity to it with a lot of telling happening in the dialogue.

Nandhini to me would have been like his previous heroines if her character gets revealed in fragments (almost like a collage; think Divya to Arvind Swamy’s character in his last film, Vikram’s character gets revealed in Ravanan or Mohan Lal’s character in Iruvar or Manisha’s in Dil Se.) the same would apply to Aditya karikalan: these two characters were the most interesting to me, most rounded.

I felt Rakshasa mamaney and Devaralan aattam where the highlights if not for Vikram’s scene with that whiteness as the background in a balcony in a fort. I kind of felt that these songs were so good visually because it was all MR’s—I assumed they were not in the book ( I haven’t read the book; are these songs in the book?).

I have to submit that when u admire a director like the protagonist in Kiarostami’s Close-up admires Makhmalbaf, it is impossible for you to be balanced in your expectations.

LikeLike
therag

October 1, 2022

The problem with Ponniyin Selvan is it is not a single-hero subject, or a massy subject at all. That problem remains even if you increase the length. I don’t think GoT is a fair comparison because even GoT is fairly “massy”. It had dragons, direwolves, incest, and pretty famous twists (Red Wedding, Purple Wedding). And of course, “It’s not porn, it’s HBO”.

Ponniyin Selvan has Thevaram, Buddhism, Kalamugas and sacrifices – a totally different cultural landscape. There are some “wow” moments embedded in this landscape, but it is only “wow” if you are attuned to this landscape.

That said, I think PS-2 will be more in Mani’s alley. The action is more localized and a lot of characters are finally in one place together. Mani can do what he does best here.

LikeLiked by 4 people
Deepika

October 1, 2022

Wrt camera movements, yes there was always a movement, but adapting the style to most parts of the film worked to its disadvantage. The monologue Vikram gives to Parthibendra where he is literally disturbed by Nandinis course of actions, the constant camera movements gave a form to his POV. But when there are constant camera movements, scenes like the above mentioned fail to impress a viewer.. more disaster – there is a scene where even subjects head gets cut off cos the camera was constantly moving

LikeLiked by 1 person
Jeeva Pitchaimani

October 1, 2022

Another selfish comment here. How many of you think that Vikram was wasted here? What purpose does a “star” of such calibre have to do in this four-scene movie? He in fact had grown longer hair than both the “heroes” -Ravi and Karthi who had longer respective screen-time in the film. To an extent, I understand that Vikram was used here to add some heft to the peripheral Aditha Karikalan character who does not have much to do in the novel as well. And of course, the murder of Veerapandiyan by Karikalan is the starting point of this story which I very well understand too. Wouldn’t it have been better to chosen someone with lesser star-wattage and “screen-presence” than someone like Vikram? Wouldn’t have the role benefited from people like say, Vijay Sethupathi or Madhavan or Arvind Swamy? The reason I am giving this comment is not just because I am a Vikram fan. Every poster of this film has a larger Vikram who dwarfs above every other character and even the promos too appeared to portray this as a “Vikram-starrer” and needless to say, his name appears first on the list of credits. This comment may be a bit premature since the character seems to appear in the sequel as well but I was very disappointed to see so little screen-time for an actor with so much potential and charisma.

LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan

October 1, 2022

vijay: Why he wanted to make it is the same reason MGR or Kamal wanted to, I guess. It’s more an emotional connect with the novel than a “logical” decision, and wanting to try and put it on the big screen. In fact, I think he said as much in one of his interviews — that ever since he read the novel as a boy, he always saw it (in his imagination) as something written for a “big screen”…

In CCV, I had zero connection with the characters and the story. Each one was a gangster — that’s it. And There was no further layering. Whereas here, each and every character has so much going for them (even if you have not read the book, you see their key traits / motivations) on the screen.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Yajiv

October 1, 2022

“Wouldn’t it have been better to chosen someone with lesser star-wattage….than someone like Vikram?”

Vikram is a terrific actor. But I honestly don’t think that Vikram has the star wattage that he used to. If so, Cobra (which was very much a Vikram starrer) wouldn’t have become the failure that it did. To me, this movie was certainly not billed as a Vikram starrer. Most people in my family & friends circle went to see this movie because it was 1) a Ponniyin Selvan adaptation, 2) a Mani Ratnam film and 3) a MULTI-starrer with the top stars of Tamil cinema.

Those who had read the novel knew that Karikalan’s wouldn’t be a massive part. Also the promotional interviews (of which I watched quite a few) kept turning towards Karthi & his character (“the narrative follows him” & “he is the eyes of the audience” were phrases used a lot) and Jayam Ravi (“How does it feel to be THE Ponniyin Selvan?”) and not so much towards Vikram. So the general audience expectations were set right there. In fact, Vikram mentioned during Anupama Chopra’s interview, that his two worries while taking this project were A) it was a similar character to Raavanan (perhaps this is why Mani cast him) and that B) his hardcore fans (like yourself) would be disappointed by his lack of screen time.

The poster & promos, I can’t speak about as I’ve only seen them online. I can understand that it’s different when you are in Chennai/TN being constantly bombarded by them.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Yajiv

October 1, 2022

BR, I submitted a comment but it’s not showing up. Not sure what’s going on.

LikeLike
Aman Basha

October 1, 2022

@Jeeva: I suggest Vikram fans be happy with whatever they get, for the sake of the audience and the distributors that had to endure Cobra and Chiyaan’s 25 getups.
It’s obvious why Vikram did this role, one it’s a hugely iconic novel and if Rajini was willing to play some old dude just to be a part of it, then Vikram is actually quite lucky that despite his horror run of late, he got this part. Secondly, Raavanan was one film of Vikram in the last decade which earned him praise and did decently in the box office. And being a part of this huge project, which now seems to be on its way to success with a 80 crore day 1 will serve as a career booster for most people involved.

LikeLiked by 2 people
vijay

October 1, 2022

BR, thanks.

Jeeva, if you are a Vikram fan you should be more disappointed about why he chose Cobra-like scripts more over the last 15 years than something like PS..even much younger actors like Karthi or VJS or Dhanush have shown far more consistency in script choices even if they have their own duds now and then..for how long Vikram fans will keep saying that the ‘director let him down’ or the ‘script let him down’..how about Vikram letting himself down? for a guy who has been in the industry since the late 80s (almost the same age as Aamir for comparison sake) if he couldnt see a stinker from a mile away while okaying films, he needs to get a lion’s share of the blame for how his career has taken shape. Something like Cobra would have been laughable 10 years back. But now, it looks like rubbing salt onto the wounds of his fans.

LikeLiked by 3 people
ram1976

October 1, 2022

Just back from the movie.. Other than a below par music and CGI everything else worked for me. Jayam Ravi looked the part. Vikram, Karthi, Ravi, Trisha, Aishwarya rai are all avg-bad actors.. But MR has got the best out of them, focussing on their strengths.

LikeLiked by 2 people
H. Prasanna

October 1, 2022

@Jeeva I was thinking about this when watching Mahaan and Cobra. He used all his work on himself to act in those two movies. Vikram fans got two more movies out of this. Remember when he used to, Shankar’s I, just do one movie. I think he has realized what you have said and made the most of his prep for PS in other movies.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

A friend of mine watched the Telugu version and said he couldn’t follow the story. He says the movie presumes some historical knowledge on your part. I couldn’t relate to his experience since I had already read the books.

He also says that the Telugu dubbing is not good. That I can relate to. Telugu versions of recent Mani Ratnam’s films have been so badly written that I have stopped watching them. I opt for the subtitled Tamil versions instead. This film must have been doubly difficult to translate for obvious reasons.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

I think even with good dubbing, some things in PS-1 will be too regional. Something as important as the role of Alwar Nambi, like why does he keep yapping about Vaishnavism and that Vishnu is more important than Shiva. Tamilians will get the context completely but it may not translate the same way outside and some people may even find him plain irritating and a drag.

Mani has chosen to play to the base first and foremost which imo is the wiser approach than trying to please everyone and satisfying none by, say, diluting the Nambi character to universalize the story. Yes, PS is available in multiple languages but I guess it’s for the intrepid viewer who will persevere beyond these hurdles and try to ‘get’ the film. It doesn’t mean it’s pan-India in the same way as, what else, Baahubali/RRR.

This film is deeply rooted in Tamil culture and history. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I don’t think there would be too many Tamilians who disagree. This doesn’t mean that it is intended to exclude everyone else but that it also can’t be spoon-fed by force-fitting the story for broad beats.

LikeLiked by 5 people
vijay

October 1, 2022

already a controversy brewing over so called dravidianization of PS and azhwar nambi character as to why he says “narayana’ in other languages but ‘ayyayyo’ in Tamil..
https://thecommunemag.com/dravidianization-of-ponniyin-selvan-azhwarkadiyans-narayana-becomes-ayyayo-in-tamil-version-of-maniratnams-ps-1/

Rangaraj Pandey has been koovifying about this as well..

LikeLike
vijay

October 1, 2022

Directors like Mani can’t seem to catch a break these days..either their movies are veiled RW apologist-pieces or they are ‘Dravidianized’ (whatever that means)..One of the better decisions BR has made is to stay away from political readings of films in his reviews..you can get into enough trouble even without them, as it is(as Jai Bhim showed) 🙂

LikeLike
Madan

October 1, 2022

vijay: Jayaram does say narayana in the Tamil version. Maybe not every time but I guess, unlike the ones who had an axe to grind, I had better things to do than carefully note whether he says narayana or ayio. And as a Tamil Iyengar, I use both myself. It’s also a rubbish point to pick up on when Alwar throws a hissy fit over Vishnu being the only God or at least superior to Shiva. Where’s the Dravidization in that?

LikeLiked by 3 people
Prat

October 1, 2022

One more thing that Mani deserves credit for is his decision to avoid showing gratuitous violence. Our movies have become super violent of late due to Hollywood influence, but Mani has chosen to avoid these scenes even when there was scope for it (the book had a scene where an army merrily parades around the country with the head of a beheaded king).

About the kundhavai-Nandhini scene, it has much more of an impact in the book than it does here. In the movie, the extent of their rivalry is not clear because their backstory isn’t explored much. Nandhini hates the chola clan because of all the injustices she has suffered at the hands of that family, and that is not obvious in the movie. Also there are two main Kun-Nan scenes in the book (the other more important encounter is when K decides to visit the injured Kandhamaaran – which is not in the movie) but here they had to condense it, so the loss of context was inevitable.
Rahman’s music was the highlight here when they meet and I can’t wait for them to release these mini songs. That piece also made me wish for more carnatic sounding songs here because Rahman seems to excel at it amazingly.

About the CGI, it wasn’t bad by any standards and I guess that is more than enough.

I hope some big studio commissions a ten part series after this with luxurious pacing and no diversion.

LikeLiked by 2 people
brangan

October 1, 2022

vijay: I have said this earlier. To me, Mani Ratnam is not a political filmmaker. He is — like his great idol Kurosawa — a humanist filmmaker, first and foremost. Whatever the theme, whatever the backdrop, his cinema is always about people rather than -isms.

“Oru theeviravaadhiya manushanaa maathittey” — that line is Mani Ratnam in a nutshell, even in politically charged Kashmir.

LikeLiked by 5 people
Macaulay Perapulla

October 1, 2022

Did anyone else find the songs incongruous with the overall scheme of things and a dealbreaker for the movie? Take the devaralan aattam song. What was it supposed to mean? The picturization was focused on Devi and some kind of kali form. But the song’s core lyrics were based on Murugan. Why didn’t nobody point this out to the director and dance director? The song was a backdrop to show the local chieftains scheming against the king. But it served no purpose in the narrative. On paper, I suppose the intent of the song was to showcase different moodscapes of the characters Vanthiyathevan was meeting. But somehow I found them utterly distracting and it kinda became like a tableau performance showing different characters, that didn’t add up anything to the narrative.

Take kundavai’s introduction song in which kamsan and krishna get into a duel. Given that vanthiyathevan would end up marrying kundavai, was the song a playful hint at showing how this queen would end up marrying this spy? I wish the songs were axed. And god, it was such a bad idea to watch the movie on FDFS. People were busy shooting scenes on their Instagram feeds, instead of watching the movie. What bunch of idiots have we become?

LikeLike
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

‘It doesn’t mean it’s pan-India in the same way as, what else, Baahubali/RRR.’

I’m glad Mani Ratnam didn’t try to make it “pan-Indian.” It is a Tamil story and it should remain that way. The problem is that they promoted it as a pan-Indian film that could cross cultures the same way Bahubali did. Vikram even went on a tangent about Indian history during the hindi promotions. I guess people from other states expected a universal story that didn’t need a crash course in Tamil history. I think this could have been solved by making it a trilogy and establishing the setting and the characters in more detail. If LotR could be condensed into three movies, I’m sure Ponniyin Selvan could be too.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 1, 2022

“I guess people from other states expected a universal story that didn’t need a crash course in Tamil history. I think this could have been solved by making it a trilogy and establishing the setting and the characters in more detail.” – I would have agreed had I not heard Anupama Chopra calling THIS a slow burn. If you make it any more detailed, will people be able to sit patiently for 3 hours and watch? I keep harping on this aspect but even sitting in a mostly Tamil audience for the Tamil version, I noticed people repeatedly checking their texts/emails. It makes me skeptical about sustaining the theatrical experience for anything other than an ‘event’ movie that is gladiatorial rather than dramatic.

LikeLike
Madan

October 1, 2022

“And god, it was such a bad idea to watch the movie on FDFS. People were busy shooting scenes on their Instagram feeds, instead of watching the movie. What bunch of idiots have we become?” – I didn’t read your comment while replying to Chanakya but…case in point! Everybody is busy vlogging or flogging whatever’s their horse, anything other than just sitting tight and watching the movie they paid for. OK, not everyone, but enough that it gets irritating.

LikeLike
vijay

October 1, 2022

BR, thats my point too. Even when you are’nt a political filmmaker that’s not going to stop theorists from spinning their own narratives with cherry-picked examples..and it has become increasingly that way these days..especially with social media’s advent

LikeLiked by 1 person
Macaulay Perapulla

October 1, 2022

@Madan “OK, not everyone, but enough that it gets irritating. Oh yes. I had one such vadikattuna idiot who was shooting highs, broadcasting it with his Instagram audience and appa appa, “ayyO. sema la”, “sema la”.At one point, I had to tell him: Can you keep the phone and watch the movie for a change?

LikeLiked by 3 people
Macaulay Perapulla

October 1, 2022

An excellent analysis on some of the flaws from Mani’s POV (as in, forget the book, watch the movie) and from Kalki/historical POV http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1ss54be
“பாடத்தின் ஆரம்பத்திலேயே கதையை நினைத்துக்கொண்டு படத்தைப் பார்க்கவேண்டாம் என்பது போல ஒரு டிஸ்கி போட்டுவிடுவதால் (குரங்கை நினைத்துக்கொண்டு மருந்தைக் குடிக்காதீர்கள் என்பது போல) கதையை மறந்துவிட்டு படத்தைப் பார்க்கவேண்டியிருக்கிறது.

டிரெய்லரில் வந்த கமலின் குரலோடு கதையின் பின்னணி தொடங்குகிறது. அதோடு அப்படியே இணைந்து போர் நடக்கும் காட்சி பிரமாதமாக ஆரம்பிக்கிறது. அடடா அருமை என்று நிமிர்ந்து உட்காந்தால், போர் முடிந்து, ஆதித்த கரிகாலன் தன் வாளை வந்தியத்தேவனிடம் கொடுத்து, கடம்பூரில் சதி நடப்பதாகச் சொல்லி அது பற்றிய விவரங்களை தஞ்சை சுந்தர சோழரிடமும் தங்கை குந்தவையிடமும் சொல்லச் சொல்கிறான். அறிவாளியும் வீரனுமான கரிகாலன், சதி விவரங்களை திரும்பி தன்னிடம் வந்து சொல்ல ஆணையிடாமல் எதற்கு படுத்த படுக்கையாக இருக்கும் அரசனிடமும் அதிகாரமில்லாத இளவரசியிடமும் இந்த விவரங்களைச் சொல்லக்கோருகிறான் என்று யோசிப்பதற்குள் சட் சட் என்று காட்சிகள் மாறுகின்றன.

தஞ்சைக்கு வரும் வந்தியத்தேவன் சுந்தர சோழரைச் சந்தித்து நாட்டையே உலுக்கக்கூடிய சதி பற்றிய திடுக்கிடும் செய்தியை நேரடியாகச் சொல்கிறான். ஆனால் சு.சோழர் எந்த ரியாக்‌ஷனும் காட்டாமல் ‘தேவி தம்பிக்கு ஒரு டீ சொல்லு’ என்ற ரீதியில் அதைக் கையாள்கிறார். இது ஒரு உதாரணம். அதேபோல பழுவேட்டரையரின் கடுமையான சுரங்கத்திலிருந்து வந்தியத்தேவன் எப்படி வெளியேறினான் என்பதே தெரியவில்லை. அதெல்லாம் கதையில் பாக்கக்கூடாது என்று நாமே சமாதானம் செய்துகொள்ள வேண்டியதுதான். கோரமான கம்சனின் உருவத்தில் முதன்முதலாக வந்தியத்தேவனைப் பார்க்கும் குந்தவை திடுதிப்பென்று அவனிடம் காதல் கொள்கிறாள். திரைக்கதை இப்படி ஜம்ப் செய்து நகர்வது கதையை நன்கு படித்தவர்களுக்கே சிறிது ஜெர்க் குடுக்கும்போது, கதை படிக்காத, குறிப்பாக அயல் மொழிக்காரர்கள் இதை எப்படிப் புரிந்து கொள்வார்கள் என்ற குழப்பத்தைத் தருகிறது.

ஆதித்த கரிகாலன், வந்தியத் தேவன், நந்தினி ஆகியோரின் பாத்திரப் படைப்புகள் நன்றாக வெளிப்பட்டு இருக்கின்றன. அதற்கு அவர்கள் திரையில் தோன்றும் நேரமும் ஒரு முக்கியக் காரணம். மற்றப்பாத்திரங்கள் சட் சட் என்று மறைவதாலோ என்னவோ, அவ்வளவு ஆழமாகப் பதியவில்லை. நல்லவேளையாக கவர்ச்சிக் கன்னியாக வரும் பூங்குழலி ‘நிலா அது வானத்து மேலே’ என்று பாடவில்லை சோழ சாம்ராஜ்யத்தின் முதல் மந்திரியான அநிருத்தர் ஏதோ வாயில் காவலனைப் போல இரண்டொரு சீன்களில் வருகிறார். சுந்தர சோழரின் நெருங்கிய நண்பரான அவரை சோழர் படத்தில் ஏறெடுத்தும் பார்ப்பதில்லை.

மற்றபடி கலை, உடைகள், சண்டைக்காட்சிகள் ஆகியவை நன்றாகவே இருக்கின்றன. முழுக்கக் கற்பனைக் கதையான பாகுபலியோடெல்லாம் பொசெவை ஒப்பிடுவது அபத்தம். திரைக்கதையில் இன்னும் கவனம் செலுத்தியிருந்தால் கதை ஒரே சீராக எல்லாருக்கும் புரியும்படி வந்திருக்கும்.

இனி கதை படித்த /வரலாறு அறிந்தவர்களுக்கு….

கல்கி ஒரு மகத்தான கதை சொல்லி. கதையில் அவர் குந்தவையையும் அருண்மொழியையும் ஆதித்த கரிகாலனைச் சந்திக்க வைக்காததற்குக் காரணம் இருக்கிறது. சந்தித்தால் மந்தாகினியைப் பற்றிய உண்மையைச் சொல்லி மதுராந்தகனுக்குப் பட்டம் அளிப்பதை வற்புறுத்துவார்கள் என்பதே அதன் பின்னணி. ஆனால் படத்தில் குந்தவை ஆ.கரிகாலனைச் சந்திப்பது மட்டுமல்லாமல் மூக்குடைபட்டுத் திரும்புகிறாள். இது அந்தப் பாத்திரத்தின் கனத்தைக் குறைக்கிறது. அதே போல சதி விவரம் கதையின் முக்கிய மாந்தர்களுக்கு வெவ்வேறு காலகட்டத்தில்தான் தெரியவருகிறது. அப்போது அவர்களால் ஏதும் செய்ய முடியவில்லை என்பதே கதையின் முடிச்சு. படத்தில் எல்லாருக்கும் ஆரம்பத்திலேயே தெரிந்துவிடுகிறது. ஆனாலும் சும்மா இருக்கிறார்கள். வந்தியத்தேவனைப் போல கதையைச் சீராகக் கொண்டுசெல்லும் ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான் பாத்திரம் காமெடியனாக்கப்பட்டு விட்டது பெரும் குறை.

வீரநாராயணபுரம் கோவிலில் திருமலை பாடும் பாசுரங்கள், சேந்தன் அமுதன் பாடும் திருமுறைகள், செம்பியன் மாதேவியின் கற்றளித் திருப்பணி என்று சோழர் காலத்து ஆன்மிகத்தை கல்கி கதை முழுதும் தெளித்திருப்பார். படத்தில் ஒரு இடத்தில் கூட இந்த விஷயங்கள் வந்துவிடாமல் கவனமாக இருந்திருக்கிறார்கள்.

அதேபோல அருண்மொழியைச் சிறைபிடிக்கச்செல்லும் சோழர் கடற்படையை கதையில் அரபியர்கள் அழிப்பார்கள். பின்னாளில் ராஜராஜன் கடற்படை அமைத்து கடற்கொள்ளையர்களை ஒடுக்க இது காரணம் என்று கல்கி அந்த நிகழ்வை அமைத்திருப்பார். ஆனால் படத்தில் அவர்களைக் காணோம். பாண்டியக் குழந்தையை அமரபுஜங்கன் என்று அறிமுகப்படுத்துகிறான் ரவிதாசன். கதையில் அவன் பெயர் பராங்குச நெடுஞ்செழியன். அமரபுஜங்கன் ராஜராஜனின் சமவயதினன். இதையெல்லாம் சொல்லப்போனல் படத்தைப் படமாகப் பாருங்கள், நாவல் படமாகும் போது திரைக்கதை அமைப்பது கஷ்டம் தெரியுமான்னு ஒரு க்ரூப் வந்துவிடும். ஆகவே இத்தோடு நிறுத்திக்கொள்வோம்.

மொத்தத்தில் கதை பற்றி அவ்வளவாகத் தெரியாதவர்களுக்குப் படம் பிடிக்க வாய்ப்பு இருக்கிறது.

தன் வாழ்வு முழுவதும் மதுவுக்கு எதிரான பிரச்சாரத்தில் ஈடுபட்ட கல்கியின் பாத்திரம் ஒன்று குடித்துவிட்டு ஆடுவது போன்ற அந்தக் காட்சியைத் தவிர்த்திருக்கலாம். கல்கியின் படத்தைக் காட்டாவிட்டாலும் அது கல்கிக்குச் செய்யும் மரியாதையாக இருந்திருக்கும்.”

LikeLike
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

Speaking of attention deficit idiots, the guy next to me kept getting texts and phone calls the whole time. I was about to sternly ask him to switch his phone to silent mode when I noticed his lock screen. It was the glorious face of lockdown era, gandalf bearded Modiji. Even my Modi-loving friends have never shown such devotion to the supreme leader. I don’t mess with devotees.

LikeLiked by 4 people
Nappinai (@Nappinai2)

October 1, 2022

“I guess people from other states expected a universal story that didn’t need a crash course in Tamil history. I think this could have been solved by making it a trilogy and establishing the setting and the characters in more detail.” – This is a very universal story at it’s core and you don’t need to know any history to watch this film, no? The story is about a glorious dynasty, yes but it isn’t much about their history. In fact, barring few people no one in TN even knows the history of Cholas prior to Raja Raja ascendancy.

As Madan says, the reason why this may be difficult for non-tamil audiences is the very specific cultural setting . This gets aggravated further by the many characters and their inter-connectedness. The Nambi character is a great example as pointed out. At some level, it’s also a lack of interest, I would say. Would some one from north be as interested to see how the social life of tamil lands were in 9th-10th century?

Bahubali is a great film, but it’s a generic landscape with 4-5 characters designed to be pan-Indian. I don’t think PS is even in the same category. Moreover, MR seems to be clear in not making the story generic and his vision I would say is justified by the tamil audience’s response. For many people, specifically the 50+ generation, it has been a dream for decades to see this story adapted this way onscreen. I am glad they are able to have their moment finally. Let’s not grudge them that for elevation scenes and Vfx 🙂

LikeLiked by 4 people
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

‘I would have agreed had I not heard Anupama Chopra calling THIS a slow burn. If you make it any more detailed, will people be able to sit patiently for 3 hours and watch?’

I get that. But isn’t there a danger of losing the audience if they can’t keep up with the happenings on screen? It’s a tight rope to walk. I felt that MR had leaned towards satisfying the book fans. Or, looking at the janky CGI, the budget didn’t allow him to shoot any more footage than he has.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 1, 2022

” I felt that MR had leaned towards satisfying the book fans. Or, looking at the janky CGI, the budget didn’t allow him to shoot any more footage than he has.” – Probably a combination of both. The book as Nappinai says is legendary in Tamil Nadu. I who don’t read Tamil literature (not because of disdain but because I didn’t study Tamil in school and read very slowly) know about the book. So Mani calculated that a faithful adaptation would satisfy the book fans and a good percentage of Tamil viewers as such. And the budget is already 500 cr for 2 parts. For 3 parts, it would have been even bigger. I don’t think he felt like that would pay off commercially.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

Nappinai: At its core, yes, it is a universal story. But the film was in such a hurry to get to the next event. There’s a huge difference in how Tamil people watch this movie and the rest do. Tamilians have heard about this story their entire lives. Even if they haven’t read the books, they are familiar with the characters. My point is that, why should I (assume I don’t anything about the chozhas) care about the chozhas retaining the throne? Most filmgoers in India need heroes to root for. Not to compare this film with Bahubali (I’d prefer PS to Bahubali anyday), but you know the characters well before you get into the conflict. PS assumes that you know the characters well, so it just gets down to business.

LikeLike
gnanaozhi

October 1, 2022

Stunningly beautiful movie but in my honest opinion that’s pretty much it. Sort of like Aishwarya as Nandini. Am not even coming at it from the Book purist angle (one small quibble on that, in a bit) but purely as a movie, I liken this to the Rings of Power on Prime.

Gorgeous, jaw dropping visuals, many many players spread across many locations (continents even here), a lot happens but at the same time nothing really happens. A sort of a Schrodingers movie where a lot happens but simultaneously nothing happens.

I think Maniratinam first has to define the tone and stick to it – gritty palace intrigue with the comedy / lighter moments coming procedurally from the dialogues? A comedic road trip journey style movie? A mass masala with action setpieces? Tonally to me this movie was all over the place.

The second problem is the same that ails RoP, the lack of a strong and powerful antagonist. I was sitting next to younger group who clearly hadn’t read the books and both in the interval and at the end they were confused, they figured out that Nandini was the main big bad but that’s pretty much it. Yes they all knew Sarathkumar was upto no good, Ravidasan was the lurking in the shadows type but that one core figure to fix all our hate on that drives a good antagonist was completely missing and that leads me to Nandini / Aishwarya. Have no idea why a genius of the calibre of MR sticks to Aishwarya when she CANNOT act. She has the same 3 emotions (which vaguely look like she is about to sneeze) and that’s pretty much it. Where is the rage, the fiery anger against the entire Chola vamsam, maybe even show us a little longing for your flame from your childhood, Adita Karikalan? Methinks Lakshmi Menon would have done a stellar job, esp because the whole gossipmongering in the books was that Sarath Kumar was married to a much younger girl, not middle aged woman and as ethereal as Ash looks, she can’t pass for a 25 year old.

The battle scenes! Reminded me of the MGR swashbucklers DD used to play in the late 80’s they were that bad. The first battle for instance… Was it a siege? Are they inside the castle ? Outside? Whose trebuchets are they? It was S8 GoT level bad tbh.

What worked?

I loved the Vanar raja, reading the books again now and like when I read LoTR I only picture Viggo in my minds eye when I read about Aragorn, or Christopher Lee / Saruman, it is Karthi that comes to mind when I read about Vantiyatevan. Jayram also nailed Azhwarkadiyan which brings me to the one quibble I have in a deviation from the books…. Where is Aniruda Brahmarayar! Man was the master of the shadows and the movie writes him out entirely? I vaguely remember someone with that name but they had no impact at all and did nothing.

It was still a good effort and will definitely watch PS2 on day 5 (day 1 is just too tiresome these days with idiots only wanting to post their insta snaps or whatever) but parts of it got boring as hell though things were happening at breakneck speed.

LikeLiked by 2 people
gnanaozhi

October 1, 2022

@madan I too do not read Tamil (at all, not even slowly) but the translations by both C V Karthik Narayan and Pavithra Rajendran are brilliant nonetheless. Do give them a shot.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 1, 2022

Chanakya/gnanaozhi: I didn’t know the story threadbare when I went in, not even all the important characters. For me, the voice over in the beginning set the context and the conspiratorial meeting organized by Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar as well as the convo between Ravidasan and Nandini helped me understand who has an axe to grind against Sundara and his sons. Everyone’s mileage may vary, but that served the purpose for me.

LikeLike
Madan

October 1, 2022

gnanaozhi : Thanks for the heads up, will read the translation.

LikeLike
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

Gnanaozhi: You pretty much nailed my thoughts about this film, but more eloquently. Nandini was supposed to be the big bad villain, but Aishwarya Rai looked like a sentient mannequin.

PS: I can vouch for CV Karthik Narayan’s translation.

LikeLike
Nappinai (@Nappinai2)

October 1, 2022

@Gnanaozhi – Looks like you have read the books, so I am surprised by your comments. Is your suggestion that MR should have used the books as a source of inspiration rather than adaptation? If yes, that’s a separate discussion, IMO. Kalki’s PS doesn’t have a main antagonist and that is precisely what leads to the intrigue. You’re trying to figure out the pieces through the five parts. So, how do you want MR to come up with one main villain? Similarly, where do you read about Nandini raging and yearning for Karikalan in the books?

@Chanakya – I hear you, I think MR & team were just going for the cult status that this story has in TN. They made a version riding on this mainly but with enough tweaks to make it amenable to all generations but not necessarily cater to non-tamil audiences. I feel it was sort of deliberate.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

Nappinai : Agreed and forget the novel, historically it is not known for certain who exactly killed Karikalan. Though one video I watched claimed that it was a gang of Pandian and Cholan traitors.

LikeLike
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

Madan: I think we can safely say that you are not an average film viewer. You probably pay more attention than the average viewer. I don’t want filmmakers to spoon-feed the audience, but a little more detailing is needed if they intend to cater to the mainstream audiences. A film this expensive needs that audience to recover its costs.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

Chanakya : You may just have explained why film adaptations of PS have been jinxed for years. We will see whether this proves to be Mani’s foremost milestone or his capstone, his waterloo. The opening weekend itself is expected to pull in 200 cr worldwide so this is going to be a decent performing prequel like Brahmastra.

LikeLiked by 3 people
Nappinai (@Nappinai2)

October 1, 2022

“A film this expensive needs that audience to recover its costs.” – Film economics is one black box, IMO, however it’s safe to say if PS-1 doesn’t recover costs, we might expect some changes in PS-2.

Also, unlike Brahmastra where the team spun some fairytale accounting to the public, confusing cost vs investment to obfuscate it’s large budget, PS-1 & 2 seem to be at around 250 crores each which is more controlled. To put that in perspective, 83 film’s film budget was at 270 Cr. So we’ll know if the maker’s ploy worked or not.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 1, 2022

With the flying start PS has taken at the BO, there’s no way it will fall short of 250 cr worldwide and I expect min 300 cr. Add 125 cr for OTT rights and 25-50 for satellite rights and it’s most certainly going to be profitable for Mani. As per Mani, only post production work for part 2 is pending. So if at all a strong feedback goes through that the film left too much for the audience to figure out, he will have to take care of it in the editing table to the extent possible.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

Given KGF 2’s collections, I doubt they would lose money on such a highly anticipated movie series. MR did choose to end the movie with the right hook. My only concern is that the rest of India may not be as excited for the second part as Tamil Nadu will be. And a bigger concern is that projects like this might not be funded in future (not that it was ever easy!). Producers will only chase after masala film makers who can create mass moments instead of epic storytelling.

LikeLike
therag

October 1, 2022

@gnanaozhi, Tonally, the movie pretty much is “gritty palace intrigue with the comedy / lighter moments coming procedurally from the dialogues”. There’s no road-trip or mass masala here?

The novel itself does not have a classical antagnonist. Nandhini comes across as one, but Kalki himself spends a lot of pages explaining that she is NOT the villain of the story.

Anirudha Brammarayar is there in the movie and is played by Mohan Raman. PS-2 will have more screen-time for him as well as all the other side characters (Kadambur Sampoovarayar, Poonguzhali, Madhuranthakan).

LikeLike
therag

October 1, 2022

Anupama Chopra said this movie was a SLOW-BURN? I call that bad criticism.

It is not surprising that the reception in other-languages is not as hot as in TN. If you’re watching this for the first time, there are a ton of characters and motives, and no true hero/villain. So some effort is required to keep up with what’s happening.

Saving grace is that, unlike say CCV, there is depth here and a lot of effort to adhere to kalki’s vision. So, this would be a good re-watch, and might do well on OTT. MR and crew should probably give out free copies of the book’s English translations outside TN.

One box office tidbit: it had the biggest opening worldwide for a Tamil film, but third behind Beast and Valimai in TN apparently. Tamil Nadu develop aagarthukku innum naraiya naal aagum.

LikeLiked by 3 people
Enna koduka sir pera

October 1, 2022

I loved loved loved the movie. Completely echo Nappinai’s thoughts on the movie. What a tribute to the book!

Having said that, I can totally see non Tamil audience who have not read the book struggle to keep up with the characters, names, places in the first half of the movie. I wish the team can put name tags for people when they talk or have a slightly longer introduction to capture the non Tamil market. This is a movie I really want to become profitable and I can’t wait for the second one!!

The last part of the movie in the seas was just mind blowing!! Take a deep bow from me, MR.

LikeLiked by 2 people
gnanaozhi

October 1, 2022

@napinai this is exactly what I was thinking through on my drive back home from the theatre last night.

The genius of the book was in how Kalki revealed just enough… Just that tidbit to hook us in, but then held back. So we knew there was a mysterious palanquin rider, people speculated and the big reveal that it was Madurantakam Chola comes much later (relative to the movie) and he juggles multiple “mystery balls” in the air simultaneously which is why the book has you turning pages at 130 am going “i have to be up at 7 am, this is a bad idea but hey, 1 more page won’t hurt…. aanand it’s 330 am.

On the subject of Nandini, allow me to explain,

In the books Nandini is the Littlefinger of her world, the big bad but operates constantly on the shadows. LF had 2 assets, his brain and his smart wit, Nandini also has 2, her beauty and her brain. She goes from a nobody to the queen of Pandyas, loses everything, and then very rapidly becomes arguably the 3rd most powerful woman in the Chola kingdom. The books make no bones about it, she knew her Beauty was the door opener and she used men constantly. She used Periya pazhuvetarayar, she used Kandamaran, she used Parthibendran and so many more.

Take the interaction between Parthibendran, Periya pazhuvetarayar and Nandini when he meets her for the first time and is bringing the sad tidings that Arulmozhi is lost at sea and possibly dead.

In the space of 1 chapter he goes from wanting to ensare her and bait her into spilling her secrets to being entirely smitten by her and doing her bidding. The same one chapter has also the constant sub thread of the Periya pazhuvetarayar being jealous of his exceedingly beautiful wife and he makes no bones about it, he doesn’t even want her meeting this handsome pallava prince but she deftly gives him some meaningless task (i forget which now) gets him out of the tent, flirts with Parthibendran while constantly telling him “I don’t trust you, am this poor innocent woman, you the mighty warrior”( some explicitly, some the reader has to impute) and when Parthibendran leaves the room… He is done for and is besotted.

Now how do you bring all this out in a 3 hour movie? This alone is possibly a 10-20 min exchange and can be only achieved in a show that’s at least 15 episodes long @45 mins an episode.

That’s why, convert Nandini into the big bad. But then Aishwarya struggled with even the basic acting she had to do, so doubt she can every pull something as complex as this off.

LikeLiked by 2 people
gnanaozhi

October 1, 2022

@chankya I was just catching up on the comments and same pinch!

Like you said, MR had a choice to stay true to the book (which he has done for the most part) but then lose a LOT OF viewers outside of TN or adapt it a bit and make it more accessible for all.

Sivagamin Sabadam would have worked brilliantly as a two part 6 hr movie. (the translation on Amazon is brilliant again in case anyone wants to read it), PS needed to be a prestige show on Netflix or Prime or Disney…$70 mn is spare change and am guessing NF is pumping half of that on the ATROCIOUS looking Archies India (just my view, don’t @me folks), that am sure given MR’s sheer pedigree he could have had these platforms throwing money at him.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

I hope someone will make a ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ web series in the future. Some one who’s equally in love with the source material. I’m happy for MR that he got to fulfill his dream. But this can’t be the definitive screen adaptation of Ponniyin Selvan. It deserves a much larger canvas. Vandiyathevan’s adventures in Tanjavur alone can fill an hour long episode.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Chanakya

October 1, 2022

‘NF is pumping half of that on the ATROCIOUS looking Archies India (just my view, don’t @me folks), that am sure given MR’s sheer pedigree he could have had these platforms throwing money at him..

I have been wondering this myself. Did Mani Ratnam ever think of making it into a show? Of course, he could only imagine it as a feature film back when he made his first attempt. But the landscape has changed quite a bit since then. Filmmakers like him will probably have an easier time finding funding on streaming sites than in mainstream movies. I was hoping that BR would ask this question in his interview.

LikeLike
H. Prasanna

October 1, 2022

This is the best comment I have read in BR’s YouTube videos in some time:
Senthil Kumaran V.:
Hy Baddy!!! I am the one who shouted your name in the escape cinemas behind you.

LikeLiked by 6 people
gnanaozhi

October 1, 2022

And that’s the thing @chankya, you said it right, Vantiyatevan’s road trip is the core of the show but there is no fluff, like he doesn’t meet or do a single thing that doesn’t advance the plot.

As a Asoiaf fan also, this is the difference between S1 and S8. S1 was just Roberts court getting to Kingslanding and then going back, everything happens in these trips. S8 was everyone teleporting all over the place.

MR did a good job mind you, I might come across as this curmudgeon, the movie was a brave attempt and is compelling but yeah can’t be the definitive onscreen work.

I just hope that this succeeds and someone greenlights Sivakamiyan Sabadam now that’s got some massive setpieces and is designed for the big screen

LikeLiked by 1 person
K

October 1, 2022

Underwhelming and disappointing. Heart broken.

LikeLike
Rahul

October 2, 2022

Hey guys, is this translation legit –
quora.com/Whats-the-best-english-translation-work-of-Ponniyin-Selvan
It seems very short to me, only 80-90 odd pages per part.

Thanks.

LikeLike
JPhil

October 2, 2022

As a Mallu who saw the movie (in Tamil,subtitled and yes, with retards instagramming scenes), I can vouchsafe that I was not put off by the ‘historicity’ of the story. That is why I chose to watch it: to see a Tamizh story about people in all their hues and frailties. Thank God it wasn’t made for a ‘pan-India’ audience.
The Bahubali comparisons too are quite silly:that was a movie for ten year olds (ok, 11 year olds); this is a grown-up movie.
We Mallus too-in the 80s and 90s- looked forward to an MR movie to feel cool: there wasn’t anyone else doing coolth like him. We still look forward to them, and really hope this works business-wise.

LikeLiked by 3 people
Rajesh Arumugam

October 2, 2022

When Kamsar meets Kundavai, Krishna has turned into princess. Is it anywhere womenly possible ? Women changing dress and getting fully ready in princess make up so soon ?? How MR missed it ?? #AskBR

LikeLike
vijay

October 2, 2022

“I just hope that this succeeds and someone greenlights Sivakamiyan Sabadam”

dont keep your hopes up..PS benefits from a certain novelty/nostalgia factor that these other films wont have..It’s the first of its kind in a long time in Tamil.. and yet it was challenge to bring it to screen..so another one along the same lines may not happen, or at least not immediately..the kind of cast that got assembled here needs a certain kind of director for whom they can work on a pay cut, while allocating bulk time..and also somebody who can pull it off. Maybe a web series.

LikeLike
Rajesh Arumugam

October 2, 2022

@BR there is power struggle theme in many stories ..CCV and PS are not related. In the pre release promotional interview with Sudhir, MR said that CCV is inspired from Aurangzeb’s story.

LikeLike
H. Prasanna

October 2, 2022

@Rajesh Arumugam
“I am sure you would be aware of this Duration length timestamp code word about your video version of review in youtube…
Is it a deliberate attempt to give a mini intro on book movie conversion, RK Narayanan novel for little over a minute in order to show a longer duration (and imply something)?”

If the video length is a code as you (and others) suggest, then why would BR answer this question. It would not be a code anymore. If you want, we can start a BR army where we can decode his reviews using this and other codes. What should we call ourselves? I say we call ourselves BRahmins, it will infuriate the haters the most!

LikeLike
KS

October 2, 2022

This issue has often been raised and flippantly mentioned, that there’s only so much one can do in a short movie instead of a full-fledged web series.

But I still haven’t seen anyone address convincingly why PS could not be a web series. The underlying assumption is something vague, like “not feasible”, budget issues, etc. Why can’t it herald the beginning of high-budget Game of Thrones style series in India? Its a sure-shot winner if there was ever one.

And this might be a wild wacky idea, but imagine the following: they make PS into two seasons, 10 episodes each, an episode being an hour long. They tie up with one or many of the big multiplex chains to release and run each episode for one month. That is, at the beginning of each month they release a new episode that runs in theaters for one month. Parallelly they could also release on OTT, but only older episodes (except the one that is currently running).

LikeLike
Enigma

October 2, 2022

I haven’t seen the movie yet, hope it comes on Netflix or Amazon soon. I see that there are quite a few comments here holding RRR as the gold standard in relation to VFX/stunts/spectacle for Indian movies. I found RRR to be too loud, the CGI too in your face and not believable. The movie was too dramatic what with NTR junior breaking into songs at the most inopportune moments. No offence but it was so old style telugu melodrama. I really hope Ponniyin Selvan is nothing like that.

LikeLiked by 3 people
Madan

October 2, 2022

Enigma: I have seen both RRR and Baahubali and PS is absolutely nothing like those films. If it’s playing in Australia and I believe it is, I would highly recommend watching it in theater.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Enigma

October 2, 2022

@Madan, yes I know it is showing on cinemas here. I haven’t been to the cinemas in ages and generally prefer watching movies at home. But maybe yeah I should make an exception and catch it on the big screen.

LikeLiked by 2 people
madhusudhan194

October 2, 2022

Watched it. Was left with way too many questions for the movie to feel like a reasonably complete experience. Yes part 2 is coming and more details will be revealed there but part 1 as a standalone film left me high and dry. I am a non reader btw. Didn’t watch any 20 min crash courses or summaries before the film. I was never on the same page with the film in the second half. The questions I had are as follows (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD):
1) Who is Nambi? Why is he there at all places that Vandiyathevan visits? Is he a spy of Nandini? But then he tells Arunmozhi that he came to Lanka to warn him about the Pandavas. How did he know about the Pandavas in the first place? He himself seems to be capable of putting up a fight. So who is he and what exactly is he doing?
2) What exactly happens when Arunmozhi and poonguzhali get on the elephant? They say yaanai ku madham pidichiruchu but then they get to the coast safely.
3) Why does Arunmozhi ask Vandiyathevan to wear his turban and jewels? Does he want him to get caught? But he looks surprised when he learns that Vandiyathevan was caught.
4) Why do the Pandavas target to kill Arunmozhi first and not Aditha? I understand they want to kill all three men in the family but why target Arunmozhi first when it’s Aditha who killed their king.
5) And why Aditha doesn’t do anything even after knowing why Nandini has entered the kingdom.
6) Sometimes people get to know some information immediately. Sometimes it takes days. I couldn’t get a hold of how time works in this film.
7) And who is that guy who wants to marry poonguzhali? The one who helps Pandavas. Which side is he really on? This part was extremely confusing given that he’s a key to the plot points unfolding in the second half.

Either these details are not revealed for whatever reason or i missed them because the screenplay moves quite fast. Either way, too many questions to make sense of what’s happening. I didn’t have a satisfying experience.

I could live with some missing details. Like what happened with Nandini between the time she’s sent away by kundavai and the time Aditha finds her with Veerapandiyan. Or like who’s oomai Rani and why she looks like Nandini. I can buy that those details will be revealed in the second part.

I was always catching up with the film in the second half. Maybe I can make sense of these things in hindsight. But ideally the film should move smooth enough to enable a non reader be on the same page with it. Having to catch up never really worked because the film always stayed at a distance. Although the plot thickens in the second half, I hardly felt any tension. Only confusion. It was a frustrating watch.

LikeLike
rsylviana

October 2, 2022

Watched the movie this morning and loved it to bits. I absolutely adored the fact that MR made the story take centerstage instead of employing CGI needlessly. It made the entire movie very rooted in the historical milieu it took up. And the cast was splendid in every frame! Before the film, I had my doubts with regards to Jayam Ravi and Trisha but they too were on-point in their parts. Cannot wait for Part-2 now .

LikeLiked by 2 people
lurker

October 2, 2022

“S1 was just Roberts court getting to Kingslanding and then going back”

Spoilers galore for GoT/Asoiaf
Season 1 , based on book 1, was much more than that. It involved the Lannisters’ plots, Ned’s secrets, Jon’s dilemma, Arya’s defiance, Sansa’s credulity, and really needed a full season to get through.

I don’t know how that is comparable to Vandiyathevan’s one chapter road trip. It’s evocatively written, yes, but I don’t know if it could have been filmed in much greater detail.

Also, Game of Thrones went wayward the moment they ran out of material from the books. We don’t have that problem with PS, with it being a completed work.

LikeLike
H. Prasanna

October 2, 2022

@madhusudhan194 Your Pandiyas to Pandavas autorcorrect makes an already intriguing story so weird and hilarious.

LikeLiked by 2 people
rsylviana

October 2, 2022

@madhusudhan19: Fellow newbie here who hasn’t read the book and who only knows a sort of gist of the story she heard long back from her friends . Few of the questions you have posted here were the ones I had too but I could follow the story thinking ‘ it will be revealed/tied together in the second half”. So below is my attempt to answer your doubts.
1. Nambi is a spy who is related to Nandhini and is able to reveal about her childhood to Vandhiyathevan. I feel he is much closer and loyal to Nandhini than the first half chose to reveal.
2. Arunmozhi Varman is shown to be a soft but skilled prince who is adept at combat and administration. So I felt it was left for us to connect the dots that he would be skilled at taming an aggressive elephant too.
3.Not exactly, Arunmozhi Varman doesn’t want Vandiyathevan to get caught per se. He just knows that something is off that his dad had ordered their own army to capture him so he sets out to find out for himself what’s brewing in there, knowing that Vandiyathevan would be able to fend for himself since Arunmozhi knows that Vandiyathevan is a skilled combatant himself (I think they showed us that little clash they have when the two meet each other for the first time precisely for this).
4.With respect to Pandiyas, I think there is a Nandini connect there too. The Pandiyas target Arunmozhi first because he is known to be the favorite for the throne next whereas Aditha Karikalan is shown to be not so keen in the throne . I also got the sense that AK is all brawns to Arunmozhi Varman’s brawns + brains.
5. AK explains this to Kundhavai, doesn’t he. He really seems disinterested in the power games leading up to the run for the throne and is more affected by his personal struggle even resenting his own sister for her part in his loss. So its understandable that Nandhini’s presence in their kingdom with her old husband only seems to disgust AK because of their history and not concerned for his family .
6. I think even if there was a sort of a timeline discord, it must have been more of an editorial decision to set up certain characters / to get the story going at a brisk pace. I’m confused as to which message’s receival time made it confusing for you .
7. Yea, I didn’t understand his affiliations/intentions completely either. Hoping its revealed more in the second part.

P.S – PS purists, please don’t attack me if I have made any grave errors and do let me know if I’m way off here but please do so without revealing plot points from the later books/movies.

LikeLiked by 5 people
Anuja Chandramouli

October 2, 2022

I liked the film for the most part. Nice to see MR back to form after a long time. Jeyamohan and Elango Kumaravel along with Mani have done a good job of condensing and rewriting the material for the big screen. Ravi Varman and Thotta Tharani deserve a big round of applause for the astounding work they have done to bring this period from the 10th century to life and make it feel so lived in.

I thought Vikram and Karthi were extraordinary in their roles. The latter especially is perfect for the part of Vandiyathevan, so beloved by fans of Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan. Karthi is such an effortless performer and has amazing depth and range. Really hope he gets more roles that are worthy of his enormous talent. Aditha Karikalan is somewhat unlikeable in the book, but Vikram does extraordinary work as always to make the character shine. I liked Sarath Kumar, Parthiban, Prakash Raj, Kishore and Jayaram as well in their respective parts. As feared, Jayam Ravi is horrendous as Arulmozhi (Why oh why wasn’t this part given to Silambarasan?). He has tried hard and you feel the effort but definitely not in a good way so I threw up my arms in despair every time he stunk up a scene he ought to have owned. Ash is gorgeous as all hell and is fine when she is asked to just keep still and be her coldly beautiful self but anything more is beyond her. Watch her totally screw up in that pivotal scene with Vikram and Nasser where she is pleading for the life of her loved one and you will see what I mean. It was a kick ass scene in the book and Ash simply can’t deliver because the woman just cannot act and her lack of skill is felt keenly especially since Vikram is brilliant in that scene as is Nasser. It is a career best performance from Trisha but that’s not saying much. I kept thinking of a young Sridevi in that role. And since they cast an older actor for Nandini perhaps they should have gone with Sneha for Kundavai.

And I agree with BR. Wish they had done away with the song and dance routine entirely. It would have been far better to use the precious time to let the characters interact with each other more. That way, the likes of Sendhan Amudhan, who is a beautifully written character and Poonguzhali, the fan favourite, could have had their moments like in the book.

These quibbles aside, I quite enjoyed the movie. It was a wonderful cinematic experience and am looking forward to part 2.

LikeLiked by 3 people
Rajesh Arumugam

October 2, 2022

,@rsylvinia – for 2. AVM will say something in Elephants ears which trained Paagans will do. If you see, initially in the marketplace AVN will be riding the elephant

LikeLiked by 1 person
Anand Raghavan

October 2, 2022

Loved it…..it’s typical MR …never seen such a natural, rooted historical movie in Tamil…

This is a not a spic ‘n span visual movie like a padmavat but with “imperfections” as MR put it and that’s what transports us to that world with dust and movement, keeping it as real and rooted…cinematic liberties taken carefully which is taken positively by majority of readers .no moments for sake of goosebumps which has been made as trend now…

Challenge awaits for part2 as they have covered only around 40% in this….if they can repeat this in part2, it would complete a great adaptation

LikeLiked by 2 people
Venkat

October 2, 2022

I have some idea of the history around Aditha Karikalan’s death and having read the first part several years ago, I was also aware of the main characters and their relationships. So I liked the movie (mostly) and was able to keep up with the characters and the scenes. But the movie might not appeal to those who haven’t read the novels or Chola history. They would probably compare it with Baahubali or SLB movies and be disappointed. The special effects or the grandiosity are a touch inferior than the latter ones.
In my opinion, it should have been a trilogy or a web-series. There are way too many characters for it to be a 2 part movie (not to mention the time taken up by songs and action scenes). The acting was quite competent but there was no stand-out performance. I really liked the songs but found the background score to be over the top and trying hard to elevate the drama. Even as an ARR fan, I couldn’t help but wonder how Ilaiyaraaja would have scored for a film like this.

Lastly, the movie lacked the classic Mani’s touch (thinking of Iruvar or Dil Se). His last movie, CCV, was also like this: both are grand in scale with a star studded cast but come across as, for the lack of a better phrase, factory assembled. Anyone else feels this way?

LikeLiked by 2 people
Anand Raghavan

October 2, 2022

@Anuja , glad to know MR has made his old fan girl happy 😊

LikeLike
vijay

October 2, 2022

I liked this overall, was an engaging watch. But as others have noted its difficult to remember each character’s actions/motivations/geographies over the course of the film. By the middle of second half I was already trying to remember what Karthi was sent for to Kadambur. Same confusion with Nambi as well who convewniently seems to be evrywhere, I guess these are the perils of adaptation. In the book maybe Nambi gets an extensive treatment. The entire Vikram’s love backstory and Nandini’s beef with him are all explained in just 3-4 mins and with a song thrown in there as well..Talking of music, the BGM was quite loud at a lot of places. Too much of the Carmina Burana type loud chorus and percussion used in action scenes. Some times a subdued menacing theme would have bene sufficient. The Alaikadal song with its touch of melancholy and yearning did not fit the playful situation between Karthi and Aiswarya at all. Its good that it got chopped off. Or they should have used it in another situation.

The other drawback was Pazhuvettaraiyar and his grand plans were’nt fully clear. why does he want to arrest arulmozhi and what was he planning to do with arulmozhi after that? in betwen nizhalgal Ravi’s character throws his own suggestion about spreading a rumor that the 2 brothers are planning to stage a coup separately. So all that was a bit quick to digest..

LikeLike
Madan

October 2, 2022

OK, I have started reading the book (thanks again, gnanaozhi) and it starts off with the scene where Vanthiyathevan first encounters PP. Wow. I already have a better appreciation for what Mani and, perhaps more importantly, Jeyamohan have done. This must have been a heck of a story to straighten out and condense. I will reserve opinion until I have finished reading and PS-2 is out as well. But so early into the book, it’s already clear to me that this must have been incredibly daunting to adapt. It’s not just the fact of it being voluminous but that the book has a completely different through-line (or maybe doesn’t have one as such, which I will find out going ahead).

Bear in mind I am not saying this as a criticism of the book; in fact, I am blown away that Kalki’s technique was so advanced. It’s not like ek ganv mein ek kisan ragu-thatha at all. What a risk to start off by introducing PP rather than starting with Sundara Chola and his sons which is much more like what I’d have expected.

LikeLiked by 4 people
Madan

October 2, 2022

Will share more thoughts later when I am at least halfway through the book but also have to note that the speed of the narration in the book itself is breakneck. So, if anything, Mani has slowed down the Nambi-VV interactions in particular to let the characters sink in for an audience that may not have read the book (like me).

LikeLike
pirhaksar

October 2, 2022

@Madan, are you reading the Tamil version?

Is there an english translation available online or one I can buy online…appreciate any inputs you may have

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 2, 2022

pirhaksar : It is an English translation which gnanaozhi recommended. Either C V Kartik or Pavithra Rajendran.

LikeLike
Bala

October 2, 2022

Caught the movie today. First theatre visit after three years. Was worth it but wouldnt say fully satisfied.
I had read the book 8 years ago, and thankfully have forgotten the details. From what i vaguely remember, senthan amudhan and madhurandhagan are supposed to be of similar age. Here they are way off. So not sure how that is going to make sense.
I was expecting a lord of the rings, but what we got is more like pirates of the carribean. In fact, the bgm for the playful chase of Karthi was very similar to jack sparrow’s chase.
To me every scene kept reminding me what I forgot. So, I felt engaged. But not so sure if anyone who hadn’t read the book will be able to make sense out of the movie.
Overall, though the movie was good, I didn’t get the epicness that the book gave.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Sam

October 3, 2022

Saw the malayalam dubbed version of the movie. Obviously haven’t read the book but has a general awareness on Chola empire through history books especially being a reasonable history buff. Didn’t have much difficulty in following or understanding the story/narrative/characters.

But the movie was underwhelming especially considering as a Maniratnam movie. It almost felt like watching an elaborately set up stage play for most part. There seemed to be no innovation, no excitement in the proceedings and characters seemed very disconnected or rather I meant the movie failed to connect us or invest us with the characters, although the actors tried to do an earnest job.

It is not just when we compare with Bahubali series or Bhansali historicals (Bajirao, Padmavat), but even when we compare with Mani’s old classics like Dalapathy, Iruvar, Kannathil, Ayudha Ezhuth, etc. couldn’t feel the tension or brilliance in conceiving scenes, especially related to confrontation (not action) or buildup. The end fight in the sea was also poorly done with no clarity at all.

However to say the positives, the movie was engaging mostly and the picturisation and visuals were wonderful. The effort taken is certainly commendable.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Ashwin Kumar

October 3, 2022

I was really looking forward to this . Did not have the chance to read the book as I am a very slow Tamil reader. I had first heard about the book in 2008 when a colleague at work used to carry it around and kept raving about what a thriller it was. so when the movie was announced I wanted to experience the full story. That’s when I stumbled about the story narration by Kani ( YouTube channel Theater D) and ended up binge listening. ( The narrative is now around the last part). Really like the narration style and way conversations are described. So was pretty excited when the movie started as I could relate to every scene and kept me engaged. By interval I felt pretty satisfied although a few things didn’t fully work for me. The songs were a distraction although I understand were used to move the story . For example the in the devaralan song, the lyrics indicate that the goddess yearns for royal blood like in the book. Also the shaky cinematography style when Karikalan explains his history with Nandhini and also during the war scenes were unnecessarily disorienting like how the Bourne fight scenes were shot years ago. Some might say it shows the confused mindstate of Karikalan but whatever.. also breaking into a song and dance ( chola chola) while explaining the history did not allow the emotions to sink in. In fact all throughout, the flow was pretty flat with no highs.
After the interval, it became very underwhelming and came across like a T20 highlights package. The ship sequence I felt was a complete mess and shabbily edited. There is so much going on in the book that did not come across well in the sequence. And the background score during that was so loud and noisy that it felt a relief when it ended. Not sure what to make of MR recent style . I love his relatively slow and measured style of the past ( Yes , I enjoyed the therapeutic Kadal) but hated CCV. This being another highlights package like CCV, definitely not excited for the part 2. More eager to listen to Kani’s narration who keeps releasing an episode atleast every week 🙂

LikeLike
Macaulay Perapulla

October 3, 2022

“பொன்னியின் செல்வன் திட்டமிடப்படும்போதே ஒரு செயற்கையான தொழில்நுட்பப் படமாக அமையக்கூடாது, முழுக்க முழுக்க யதார்த்தமாகவே இருந்தாகவேண்டும் என வரையறை செய்யப்பட்டு எடுக்கப்பட்டது. வரைகலைத் தொழில்நுட்பத்தால் உருவாக்கப்படும் படங்கள் முதல்பார்வைக்கு ஒரு பிரமிப்பை உருவாக்கினாலும் ஓராண்டிலேயே கேலிப்பொருளாக ஆகிவிடும். இது வரலாறு, இது அப்படி ஆவது என்பது நமக்கே நாம் இழிவு தேடிக்கொள்வது.

வரைகலை நுட்பம் (special effects) சில ஆண்டுகளில் பழையதாகிவிடும். மிகையாக இருந்தால் வேடிக்கையாக மாறிவிடும். இந்தப்படம் இருபதாண்டுகளாவது outdate ஆகக்கூடாது, அடுத்த தலைமுறை பார்க்கவேண்டும் என்றார் மணி ரத்னம். ஆகவே யதார்த்தத்தை உருவாக்குவதற்காக மட்டுமே வரைகலை பயன்படுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளதே ஒழிய மிகையாக காட்டுவதற்காக அல்ல. போர் உட்பட எதுவுமே மிகையாக்கப்படவில்லை.”
Jeyamohan on the design of the film:
https://www.jeyamohan.in/173538/

LikeLike
Bala

October 3, 2022

There was so much discussion about casting of all Characters. But none about Madhurandhagan and sendhan amudhan. It is very important for the story for them to be of similar age. Am I missing something, or did MR mess this up? Can someone clarify.

LikeLike
vijay

October 3, 2022

“And the background score during that was so loud and noisy that it felt a relief when it ended. ”

this seems to be a problem especially with our films..for battle scenes it has to be loud operatic choruses and a dozen pounding percussion instruments..remember that Old spice ad with Orff’s ‘Burana’? 🙂

this is the mode in which our MDs operate for these scenes..

LikeLiked by 1 person
vijay

October 3, 2022

Ash looked quite ashen and botox’ed in a lot of scenes, not sure if they did some VFX editing with her looks, that was distracting. I think overall, I would take the male leads and their performances in this film up until now. Karthi was an inspired choice for the role. Thank god, they didnt go with Vijay or somebody else.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 3, 2022

IF she did do botox (and it looks like she did from the protruding cheeks), it MIGHT be saving her because it’s harder to twitch and contort your face once botoxed. So she can’t make horrible faces in attempting to act. This mode works for what it’s worth. The real test will be part 2. Yes, Karthi is the backbone of the movie. Vikram is slightly in Pithamagan mode when he tries to convey rage. I presume Sarath Kumar will have more to do in pt 2 and – I can’t believe I am saying this – but he will hopefully lighten the load of Karthi.

LikeLike
Jahaber Ali (Sibse7en)

October 3, 2022

Watched PS and left with a very confused feeling afterwards. This film would not even enter the top 10 movies of Mani’s filmography. Just a felt like a vanity project.

Contrary to most opinions here I felt Karthi was out of sync in this movie. Jeeva would have been a more natural fit for that role. Disclaimer Karthi is a very natural perfomer but in PS he just felt meh.
Weak female leads. Aishwarya Rai and Trisha both looked like a million dollars but for such roles MR should have really gone for more natural actresses who could have pulled it off. Very bad casting choices here.
Vikram in Ravanan/ Pithamagan mode. Frustrating.
Dialogues were very very average. Especially considering the historical setting and richness of the novel. I’m suprised no one mentioned it.
Visually aethestic as usual for a MR film but too many tonal shiftings.
Wasted mannequins in the form of Prabhu and son (perhaps they will have a larger role in part 2?)
Aiswarya Lekshmi is bae. hehe.

LikeLike
bart

October 3, 2022

Liked the movie very much. Happy with the reception that it has received as well.
Apart from some minor quibbles – some more conversations and backstories to add depth to the side characters (inplace of songs), the darkness in the climax action sequence that made it difficult to find who is killing whom and whats happening, suppressing some religious flavours as it might get stamped as a propaganda (which was there in the novel), the movie was as good as it can be. MR chose a realistic drama narration without any glitters or gimmicks and he has done it very well. No major complaints on the cast and their performances as well.
I’ve read the novel 1.5 decades back and hence the story is vaguely familiar but not with all details. I was able to follow the story and characters and places. Might’ve been difficult for a non-tamil audience who aren’t familiar with the story. Some character map (tree) etc showing visually who the characters are as they are introduced could’ve eased the flow.
Great show overall!

LikeLike
brangan

October 3, 2022

Bart: suppressing some religious flavours as it might get stamped as a propaganda

LikeLike
madhusudhan194

October 3, 2022

@rsylvania: Few of the questions you have posted here were the ones I had too but I could follow the story thinking ‘ it will be revealed/tied together in the second half”.

I tried to do that too but this being a standalone film should make sense within it’s own logical universe right? Like how many dots do you keep connecting yourselves? What happens is just when you try making sense of what just happened, the film is already in the middle of the next scene. The constant catching up kind of tired me out and I ended up with a strong disconnect with the film. Like I said I can live with some gaps like Nandhini’s backstory or the story of Oomai Rani but every scene cannot leave you guessing about something or the other. I am sure the book readers will have a different experience but I feel this film does not do a good job of telling a coherent story to those who haven’t read the book or don’t know the plot points. I resonated more with Sucharita Tyagi’s review of the film than anyone else. It’s not the language or the film’s setting but the storytelling that seems to have alienated non-Tamil viewers. CCV had similar storytelling too but at least the setting and the story were generic so despite the gaps, I was on the same page as the film but here I felt completely left out. Plus I would have liked some masala moments here and there if not at Bahubali / RRR level. It wouldn’t have been out of place in this story. At least it would have felt Indian.

LikeLike
bart

October 3, 2022

@BR: Does Vetri want to say Raja Raja Chozhan was not a hindu? and he built Shiva and Vishnu temples… Strange
Anyhow, this movie is more based on the novel where there are multiple religious exchanges or references. I had forgotten and went back to check the first few chapters of the novel, where the references are plenty. This might’ve given a flavor to the movie if depicted. But in these twitter “muttu boys” days :D, saying anything can get painted with hues. So MR chose the safe route perhaps.

1) “ஆகா! பழையாறை நகர்! சோழ மன்னர்களின் தலைநகர்! பூம்புகாரையும் உறையூரையும் சிறிய குக்கிராமங்களாகச் செய்துவிட்ட பழையாறை! அந்நகரிலுள்ள மாடமாளிகைகளும் கூட கோபுரங்களும் படை வீடுகளும் கடைவீதிகளும் சிவாலயக் கற்றளிகளும் திருமாலுக்குரிய விண்ணகரங்களும் எப்படியிருக்கும்? அந்த ஆலயங்களில் இசை வல்லவர்கள் இனிய குரலில் தேவாரப் பாடல்களையும் திருவாய்மொழிப் பாசுரங்களையும் பாடக்கேட்டோர் பரவசமடைவார்கள் என்று வந்தியத்தேவன் கேள்வியுற்றிருந்தான்.”

2) “சைவர் சொன்னார்: “ஓ, ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான் நம்பியே! இதற்கு விடை சொல்லும்! சிவபெருமானுடைய முடியைக் காண்பதற்குப் பிரம்மாவும், அடியைக் காண்பதற்குத் திருமாலும் முயன்றார்களா, இல்லையா? முடியும் அடியும் காணாமல் இருவரும் வந்து சிவபெருமானுடைய பாதங்களில் சரணாகதி அடைந்தார்களா, இல்லையா? அப்படியிருக்கச் சிவபெருமானைக் காட்டிலும் உங்கள் திருமால் எப்படிப் பெரிய தெய்வம் ஆவார்?”

இதைக் கேட்ட ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான்நம்பி தன் கைத் தடியை ஆட்டிக் கொண்டு, ” சரிதான் காணும்! வீர சைவ பாததூளி பட்டரே! நிறுத்தும் உம் பேச்சை! இலங்கை அரசனாகிய தசகண்ட ராவணனுக்கு உம்முடைய சிவன் வரங்கள் கொடுத்தாரே? அந்த வரங்கள் எல்லாம் எங்கள் திருமாலின் அவதாரமாகிய இராமபிரானின் கோதண்டத்தின் முன்னால் தவிடுபொடியாகப் போகவில்லையா? அப்படியிருக்க, எங்கள் திருமாலைக் காட்டிலும் உங்கள் சிவன் எப்படிப் பெரிய தெய்வமாவார்?” என்று கேட்டான்.

இந்தச் சமயத்தில் காவி வஸ்திரம் அணிந்த அத்வைத சந்நியாசி தலையிட்டுக் கூறியதாவது: “நீங்கள் இருவரும் எதற்காக வீணில் வாதம் இடுகிறீர்கள்? சிவன் பெரிய தெய்வமா, விஷ்ணு பெரிய தெய்வமா என்று எத்தனை நேரம் நீங்கள் வாதித்தாலும் விவகாரம் தீராது. இந்தக் கேள்விக்குப் பதில் வேதாந்தம் சொல்கிறது. நீங்கள் கீழான பக்தி மார்க்கத்தில் இருக்கிற வரையில்தான் சிவன் – விஷ்ணு என்று சண்டையிடுவீர்கள். பக்திக்கு மேலே ஞானமார்க்கம் இருக்கிறது. ஞானத்துக்கு மேலே ஞாஸம் என்று ஒன்று இருக்கிறது. அந்த நிலையை அடைந்து விட்டால் சிவனும் இல்லை, விஷ்ணுவும் இல்லை. சர்வம் பிரம்மமயம் ஜகத். ஸரீ சங்கர பகவத் பாதாச்சாரியார் பிரம்ம சூத்திர பாஷ்யத்தில் என்ன சொல்லியிருக்கிறார் என்றால்….”

இச்சமயம் ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான் நம்பி குறுக்கிட்டு, “சரிதான் காணும், நிறுத்தும்! உம்முடைய சங்கராச்சாரியார் அவ்வளவு உபநிஷதங்களுக்கும் பகவத்கீதைக்கும் பிரம்ம சூத்திரத்துக்கும் பாஷ்யம் எழுதி விட்டுக் கடைசியில் என்ன சொன்னார் தெரியுமா?
‘பஜ கோவிந்தம் பஜ கோவிந்தம்
பஜ கோவிந்தம் மூடமதே!’
என்று மூன்று வாட்டி சொன்னார். உம்மைப் போன்ற மௌடீகர்களைப் பார்த்துத்தான் ‘மூடமதே!’ என்று சங்கராச்சாரியார் சொன்னார்!” எனக் கூறியதும், அந்தக் கூட்டத்தில் ‘ஆஹா’ காரமும், பரிகாசச் சிரிப்பும் கரகோஷமும் கலந்து எழுந்தன.”

3) Between Aazhwarkkadiyan and Vandhiyathevan:
“”நானும் அந்த ஆலயத்துக்கு வந்து பெருமாளைச் சேவிப்பதற்கு விரும்புகிறேன்.”

“ஒருவேளை விஷ்ணு ஆலயத்துக்கு நீ வர மாட்டாயோ என்று பார்த்தேன். பார்க்க வேண்டிய கோயில்; தரிசிக்க வேண்டிய சந்நிதி. இங்கே ஈசுவர முனிகள் என்ற பட்டர், பெருமாளுக்குக் கைங்கரியம் செய்து வருகிறார் அவர் பெரிய மகான்.”

“நானும் கேள்விப்பட்டிருக்கிறேன் ஓரே கூட்டமாயிருக்கிறதே! கோயிலில் ஏதாவது விசேஷ உற்சவம் உண்டோ?”

“ஆம்; இன்று ஆண்டாள் திருநட்சத்திரம்.ஆடிப் பதினெட்டாம் பெருக்கோடு ஆண்டாளின் திருநட்சத்திரமும் சேர்ந்து கொண்டது; அதனால்தான் இவ்வளவு கோலாகலம். தம்பி! ஆண்டாள் பாசுரம் ஏதாவது நீ கேட்டிருக்கிறாயா?”

“கேட்டதில்லை.”

“கேட்காதே! அதைக் காதினாலேயே கேட்காதே!”

“ஏன் அவ்வளவு வைஷம்யம்?”

“வைஷம்யமும் இல்லை; விரோதமும் இல்லை; உன்னுடைய நன்மைக்குச் சொன்னேன். ஆண்டாளின் இனிய பாசுரத்தைக் கேட்டு விட்டாயானால், அப்புறம் வாளையும் வேலையும் விட்டெறிந்து விட்டு என்னைப் போல் நீயும் கண்ணன் மேல் காதல் கொண்டு விண்ணகர யாத்திரை கிளம்பி விடுவாய்!”

“உனக்கு ஆண்டாள் பாசுரங்கள் தெரியுமா? பாடுவாயா?”

“சில தெரியும்; வேதம் தமிழ் செய்த நம்மாழ்வார் பாசுரங்களில் சில தெரியும். பெருமாள் சந்நிதியில் பாடப் போகிறேன் வேணுமானால் கேட்டுக் கொள்! இதோ கோவிலும் வந்து விட்டது!” இதற்குள் உண்மையிலேயே வீரநாராயணப் பெருமாள் கோயிலை அவர்கள் நெருங்கி வந்துவிட்டார்கள்.”

4) Further..
“அத்தகைய பெருமாளின் கோயிலுக்குத்தான் இப்போது வந்தியத்தேவனும் ஆழ்வார்க்கடியானும் சென்றார்கள். சந்நிதிக்கு வந்து நின்றதும் ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான் பாட ஆரம்பித்தான். ஆண்டாளின் பாசுரங்கள் சிலவற்றைப் பாடிய பிறகு நம்மாழ்வாரின் தமிழ் வேதத்திலிருந்து சில பாசுரங்களைப் பாடினான்:-
“பொலிக பொலிக பொலிக போயிற்று வல்லுயிர்ச்சாபம்
நலியும் நரகமும் நைந்த நமனுக் கிங்கு யாதொன்றுமில்லை
கலியும் கெடும் கண்டு கொள்மின் கடல் வண்ணன் பூதங்கள் மண்மேல்
மலியப் புகுந்து இசைபாடி ஆடி உழி தரக் கண்டோம்!
கண்டோம் கண்டோம் கண்டோம் கண்ணுக் கினியன கண்டோம்!
தொண்டீர் எல்லீரும் வாரீர்! தொழுது தொழுது நின்றார்த்தும்!
வண்டார் தண்ணந் துழாயான் மாதவன் பூதங்கள் மண்மேல்
பண்டான் பாடிநின்றாடிப் பரந்து திரிகின்றனவே!”

இவ்விதம் பாடி வந்தபோது ஆழ்வார்க்கடியானுடைய கண்களிலிருந்து கண்ணீர் பெருகித் தாரை தாரையாய் அவன் கன்னத்தின் வழியாக வழிந்தோடியது. வந்தியத்தேவன் அப்பாடல்களைக் கவனமாகவே கேட்டு வந்தான்.அவனுக்குக் கண்ணீர் வராவிட்டாலும் உள்ளம் கசிந்துருகியது. ஆழ்வார்க்கடியானைப் பற்றி அவன் முன்னர் கொண்டிருந்த கருத்தும் மாறியது. ‘இவன் பரம பக்தன்!’ என்று எண்ணிக் கொண்டான்.

வந்தியத்தேவனைப் போலவே கவனமாக அப்பாசுரங்களை இன்னும் சிலரும் கேட்டார்கள். கோவில் முதலிமார்கள் கேட்டார்கள்; அர்ச்சகர் ஈசுவரபட்டரும் கண்ணில் நீர் மல்கி நின்று கேட்டார். அவருக்கு அருகில் நின்று கொண்டு அவருடைய இளம் புதல்வன் பால்மணம் மாறாப் பாலகன் ஒருவன் கேட்டிருந்தான்.

ஆழ்வார்க்கடியான் பத்துப் பாசுரங்களைப் பாடிவிட்டு,
“கலி வயல் தென்னன் குருகூர்க் காரி மாறன் சடகோபன்
ஒலி புகழ் ஆயிரத்து இப்பத்தும் உள்ளத்தை மாசறுக்குமே”
என்று பாசுரத்தை முடித்தான்.”

LikeLike
Akash

October 3, 2022

I felt that Karthi was bad as Vamdhiyathevan. He was acting just lile he does in movies like All in All Azhagaraja (I saw this on TV hours before seeing PS1), Siruthai and Komban.
The worst part is that only the Vandhiyathevan-Nambi plotline was interesting and Karthi was just out of place.
Aishwarya Rai was a tad cringe in that scene where she imagines Veerapandiyan beheading while looking at the Chozha throne.
Trisha and Jayam Ravi were good but not show-stealers.
Actually the movie lacked a showstealing performance (probably Vandhiyathevan was the main character but I could not care about him…..I tried but Karthi’s casual acting which looked like he was from 2022 failed me). Everyone were just good.
I gave 0 crap about Aditha and Nandhini’s backstory because I was more interested in the tension increasing (at least on paper) around Vandhiyathevan’s whereabouts as many were chasing him. Vikram was neither great or bad. I knew nothing about Aditha to make out anything about the character.
Perhaps Kamal should have been the narrator throughout the movie filling in some of the gaps in the story.

I thought the movie will end with Aditha being killed by some unrevealed person.
But it ended with some fight where you don’t know who was fighting who.

Overall, I felt the movie was made in a rush. You can’t get a Pan India hit with something which looks rushed.

The script is brilliant. All MR had to do was to make sure that the acting, music and flow of the story was efficient. And he seemingly messed it up. You know something is wrong when I don’t care about Oomai Rani.

P.S. I have not read the book.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 3, 2022

Without igniting a debate with those who feel the film should be completely self-explanatory even if it’s part of a series and based on a book, let me give a counter example. When I watched LOTR Two Towers, for sure I couldn’t fathom why Frodo’s behaviour suddenly changes. I let it go because I hadn’t read the book or even made the basic effort to understand the character universe of LOTR. The third instalment had even more things that went over my head but once again, I put it down to what I didn’t know about LOTR. One of my main stumbling blocks in getting into the MCU (as opposed to, say, Batman which I have had no trouble understanding) is the sheer multitude of characters which has in fact multiplied after Disney took over the franchise. But I don’t say that it’s Marvel’s fault because the base for those movies is clearly those who have read the Marvel comics or are otherwise invested in the Marvel universe.

I feel that we cannot then apply a different standard to PS just because it’s an ‘Indian’ movie. We do a disservice to ourselves, both to the art form and to ourselves as the audience, by essentially echoing Jeremy Irons’ line in Margin Call, “Explain it me like a baby”. If it’s based on literature, we need to make the effort to at least read the synopsis and get the gist of the proceedings even if it’s not possible to read such a large multi-volume epic. To say that that’s too much effort is a consumerist argument because not making that effort is what detracts from understanding the proceedings and enjoying the film more. I fully understand that every member of ‘aam junta’ cannot be expected to make that effort (although, speaking of junta, they have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the film and it looks on course to break Vikram’s records) but us cinephiles can make that effort.

I cannot force anyone to read or watch synopses on YT but ultimately it’s your loss if you don’t. Now, from a text based perspective, if you criticize the film for not including the Nambi sneeze scene (I say sneeze but it’s a very important and interesting scene), I would completely agree with and accept that criticism because I too find it hard to fathom why more songs had to be included at the expense of a scene as pivotal as that. That being said, it was not hard for me to figure out what Ravidasan was up to even without that scene.

And as far as reviewers go, I am sorry but if Mayank Shekar or Sucharita Tyagi complain they couldn’t understand what was going on, I will not be sympathetic to that complaint. Because I know that had it been a film about King Arthur, they would have read up the background to get the most out of the film. Hey, I am not going all swadesi here though it’s just one day after Gandhi Jayanti (oh, sorry, should I have said Shastri Jayanti only and not mentioned that name?? 😉 ). I am deeply invested in Western cinema and music myself. But we ARE too much in awe of their culture too, which is fine as long as we extend respect at least where due to our own art forms which at their best are at least as aesthetically beautiful as theirs (whether as ‘evolved’ or not is a subjective discussion that I won’t open).

LikeLiked by 3 people
therag

October 3, 2022

Fun fact: Vikram, Vendhu Thanindhadhu Kaadu and Ponniyin Selvan are all rated U/A.

Ponniyin Selvan is easily the least violent of the three (the difference between PS and Vikram/VTK is MASSIVE). And I still wouldn’t want PS to be given a U.

Did I mention earlier how useless the censor board is?

LikeLiked by 2 people
therag

October 3, 2022

@Madan, I think it is fair if people do not dig films that require a little homework. I am glad MR did not dilute it in the name of reaching a “pan-India” audience. Of all the pan-India films of the last few years, I think only one is going to age well – Baahubali-1.

That said, I also agree that “critics” can be expected to do a little homework and not simply watch a film like an average-schmo. Youtube critics (at least the popular ones) are expert in “viewer engagement”, not films. Romba laan expect panna mudiyathu.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 3, 2022

“I think it is fair if people do not dig films that require a little homework. ” – It’s fair if they don’t turn around and ask people who complain about Marvel films to understand the universe. Apply the same standards, is what I am saying. This is an adaptation so assuming it to be a pan India movie with big beats was the mistake.

“I also agree that “critics” can be expected to do a little homework and not simply watch a film like an average-schmo.” – Nethu molacha youtube ‘critic’ kitte enakkum romba expectation kadaiyathu. But Mayank Shekar used to write reviews, lovely ones, for Mumbai Mirror for many years; believe he moved to either HT or DNA after that too. I had started to wonder where he had disappeared and was shocked when I saw him in a MidDay video. Now that I have read him actually boasting about being 10 minutes late to PS-1, failing to comprehend anything and then bashing the film for his mistake, I know! I mean, even if you were actually late, what chutzpah to mention that in a review for a widely circulated albeit regional publication!

LikeLiked by 1 person
Akhilan

October 3, 2022

Hey Madan, but perhaps the likes of Mayank Shekhar and Sucharita Tyagi did do some kind of research. Who knows… Who knows to what extent it would have altered their respective movie-watching experiences, if they did the read the books… I know Sucharita Tyagi mentioned in her review that she hadn’t read the books, but ultimately it’s about what she saw/experienced on screen, and the reasons why it did/didn’t work for her. She clearly mentions that apart from Nandini and Vallavaraiyan, she wasn’t really able to connect with/invest in the rest of the characters, as for her, they weren’t allowed to feel like “real and vulnerable characters.” Now that’s based on her movie-watching experience. For instance, Blonde really did not work for her and I don’t think she mentioned reading the book in her review there.

Now take a personal example. I hadn’t read any of the Harry Potter books before watching the movies. But I had absolutely no problem in understanding each part and where the franchise was heading to next. The whole franchise worked like a dream for me despite having little-to-no prior knowledge of the Harry Potter universe. So yeah, PS1 really worked for a lot of people, and for a lot of people, maybe it lacked something. That’s just how it is right.

LikeLike
Madan

October 3, 2022

Akhilan : OTOH I gave the example of LOTR and how I didn’t understand lot of things. For that matter, many characters kept coming and going sans explanation In Force Awakens but I was just going with the flow and not expecting to be told why each one was there.

So I am saying if it’s based on a multi volume book, don’t tell the filmmaker to explain everything to you. If you don’t get it, you don’t and that’s fine. But what’s good for the goose should be for the gander. There is a double standard here. I will give benefit of doubt to Sucharita but Mayank’s review positively screams, “I wouldn’t have watched this were it not my job.”

LikeLiked by 2 people
Akhilan

October 3, 2022

On perhaps a lighter note, have you guys seen the trailer of Adipurush…?! Apparently, it’s been made on a budget of 500 cr?! Go figure. Just utterly dumbfounded.

LikeLiked by 3 people
madhusudhan194

October 3, 2022

@Madan – I don’t agree that you need to do homework before watching a certain kind of film. I don’t watch Marvel films nor have I watched LOTR series. I have the PS books with me but I decided not to read when I got to know for certain that Mani Ratnam is making the film. I didn’t want to be biased by the impressions from the book while watching the film. I stayed away from knowing key plot points because that’s the only way to see if the film’s storytelling is smooth. I am not judging PS1 as an adaptation of the novel, which is what BR has done here. As a standalone film, is it a painless watch? It’s not. What’s frustrating is that the storytelling is quite straightforward in the first half – we follow the events, understand what the characters are up to, etc. In the second half, there is so much disorientation even within individual scenes that it’s very difficult to follow what’s going on.

As I said for example, we have no clue that Arunmozhi Varman (AMV) can tame a wild elephant. But we are told that he’s tamed it but we’re not shown how he does it. All of this is shown in a chaotic scene that gives you little time to absorb what has happened because the chola men who came to arrest AMV are already dead and AMV is rushing to get to the ship. Why does the wind stop again? Just so AMV can swim his way to the ship? No clue. If you tell me that I need to know about AMV’s skills beforehand to understand the scene, I’d say that the film is not doing it’s job. If you tell me that I should assume he knows how to tame the elephant because he’s a great warrior, again that doesn’t make sense because Vandiyathevan is a great warrior too but he’s aqua phobic. They need not have all the skills. A simple line in an earlier scene would have been sufficient.

Another example – Aditha Karikalan (AK) very well knows that Nandini is up to something. He says she’s turned into a “vesha paambu” because he certainly knows why she married Periya Pazhuvettarayar. But he decides to do something about it only after he finds that his brother is dead?

That kathi sandai between Vandiyathevan and AMV happens so randomly and abruptly that it’s hard to recall how they even met and started the fight.

It would have been easier to dislike the film had it not been so promising in the first half. The reveal about how AK and Nandhini got separated as lovers was terrific. It adds a whole new dimension to Kundhavai’s character. That she is as cunning as Nandhini and doesn’t mind hurting her brother for the sake of the kingdom. And she’s quite unapologetic about her actions despite knowing that she is the reason AK is so damaged from within.

The scene where Kundhavai and Vandiyathevan meet for the first time and sparks fly – that’s Mani Ratnam doing his thing with romance. And it’s fantastic. I had a wide smile on my face during that scene.

The scene between Nandhini and Vanditathevan at the Pazhuvoor palace when Vandiyathevan gets to know that Nandhini is much more than her looks and sex appeal – is a fantastic display of character building within the mechanics of the plot.

The difference is that the first half breathed and the second half just frantically moves from one major development to another in a disjointed fashion. This is a problem I have with the film’s screenplay but if you want to reduce it to “You rave about Hollywood and bicker about Kollywood” argument, that’s up to you.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Madan

October 3, 2022

Haven’t seen the trailer itself because the unanimous WTF reviews scared me away from it, lol. Godfather seems to have fortunes a little less amorous than the OG Godfather but maybe Chiranjeevi will surprise us?

Saw a bunch of trailers at the PS watch and edhaiyum pakkanumna thonnala.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

October 3, 2022

madhusudhan : You have not watched LOTR but many have and don’t entertain complaints about it or any of the major franchises, no? So that’s what I am talking about. If you expect every film to be a pure standalone venture and every character explained according to that expectation, I respect that at least for consistency though I don’t think it’s feasible for every kind of film. But I can’t say that professional critics bashing Mani because they didn’t ‘understand’ the film sounds either consistent or particularly professional to me. They should be framing it as ‘you need to read the synopsis and familiarize yourself with the characters before watching’, not asking Mani to make a different film because they couldn’t and wouldn’t understand.

LikeLiked by 1 person
hari prasad

October 3, 2022

Madan : and idk understand wtf Sallu bhai is doing in Godfather…

LikeLiked by 1 person
madhusudhan194

October 3, 2022

“The reveal about how AK and Nandhini got separated as lovers was terrific. It adds a whole new dimension to Kundhavai’s character. That she is as cunning as Nandhini and doesn’t mind hurting her brother for the sake of the kingdom. And she’s quite unapologetic about her actions despite knowing that she is the reason AK is so damaged from within.”

This scene is when I understood why Mani Ratnam was attracted to this story and wanted to make it for so long. The conflicts of Cholas are as internal as they are external.

LikeLike
therag

October 3, 2022

@madhusudhan19, the wind stopping is an indication that a storm is coming (calm before the stop), and yes, also allows Arunmozhi to swim to the ship.

Arunmozhi does not tame the elephant. People assume it has gone wild but it is firmly in his control. They didn’t really have a scene explaining his prowess with elephants (shown in the novel), but I guess MR felt showing Arunmozhi as the mahout in a previous scene will have to do, runtime being an issue.

The Kathi-sandai is the introduction of Arunmozhi in the novel so it is considered iconic, even Rajni mentioned in the audio launch how he was waiting to see how it was captured. However, I agree that this works better in the novel. Here, we’ve already spent some time with Arunmozhi. But I thought it was a well-choreographed one-on-one fight with some Kill-Billesque music in the background, so didn’t mind it.

The sequence leading to the ship fight is, I daresay, actually done better in the movie. There are lots of other characters and a lot more happens in the books. But Jeyamohan and Kumaravel have done a commendable job simplifying it, not that it is easy to follow for non book readers.

LikeLiked by 2 people
vijay

October 3, 2022

I guess in the book they are just fighting the storm and not the Pandyas in the ship? Mani has tweaked it I guess to make it more interesting..

Sendhan Amudhan and Kandhamaaran were also given a short shrift I guess. It’s a really difficult task to compress all this.

BTW, BR watched this in Kasi theater with a failing audio system and hooting fans? My sympathies for him as a reviewer just went up. Premiere show ellam kidayaadha for the media? On the other hand, I can see how it can be fun for certain movies but you have a job to do too, unlike us..:-)

LikeLike
vijay

October 3, 2022

I watched all 3 LOTR movies first week shows in the US when they got released(2001, 2002 2003, IIRC) without a freaking clue about the book. And it was a bit overwhelming. But then some reviews and synopses(back then not many sources on the internet) helped in catching up after part 1. But after that exhilarating series my whole interest in all these multiverses, superheroes, mythologicals went down..I cant bring myself to watch Batman vs Spiderman, Ironman vs superman stuff these days..:-) Peter Jackson was a visionary and he had set the bar high.

Ponniyin selvan has the first mover advantage on me, as being the first of of its kind in its genre in the VFX era at least in Tamil films and Mani is some sort of a visionary as well. Not sure I will be interested in watching more of the same in the theater for say aother 5-10 years.

LikeLiked by 2 people
Anand Raghavan

October 3, 2022

In novel, that fight is called “Thuvandha Yudham”

LikeLiked by 1 person
PRASAD

October 3, 2022

The fact that so many people have invested time and saw this and so many are discussing about this movie( good or bad ) is a big success to MR and his dream team.
Had a chance to see the movie. Purposefully I didn’t read the book nor saw any YT videos for the story. Few points from side.
All credits to MR and his team to assemble such a star cast and deliver a movie of this scale.
But somehow I felt the story telling was very simplistic and straightforward. Can understand we can’t bring the layering of the characters like how it is in the book but I didn’t see any big conflicts among characters.
And I also we didn’t feel any imminent danger to the Throne….we have SarathKumar speaking to small council,, and we’ve a scene having Rehman claiming the throne but they don’t convey the threat to the throne effectively.
The Pandyan rebels do that to some extent but still didn’t get a feel that there is a big threat to the throne.
Again it would be unfair to bring in Game of Thrones. Just to quote an example, the Starks siblings were shown only together for just100+ mins(1st and 2nd Episodes) but we will root for them then next 6 seasons.
And the climax confusions and substandard VFX didnt work out at all.

LikeLike
Pirhaksar

October 3, 2022

@rag … I swear I thought I saw PS whispering or saying something to the elephant when he gets on and then it runs amock…which is how I figured it was in his control all along. Did I just imagine that!?

Agree that 1-1 fight was superbly done and Kill Bill music was exactly what triggered in my mind…thought ARR nailed that one.

LikeLike
Thoo

October 3, 2022

OMG, it was so bad. I can’t remember when I was this bored in a movie before. I haven’t read the books so I don’t have that connection to gloss over the terribleness of the film. Each person acted like they were from a different era. This is the second Mr film Karthi has ruined for me. The movie is telling me I’m supposed to find him mischievous and charming. He came across as a bumbling, totally incompetent fool who is utterly charmless. I really cannot watch him and was so relived when he was absent for some time in the second half. He clearly belongs to 2022 while the rest of the cast is in different centuries.

Couldn’t bring myself to care about any character and felt almost no engagement with the story. Only arulmozhi invoked some kind of engagement. The time pass antagonists (pandya rebels) were a joke and the plot Armor around the leads is so thick I never once felt anyone was in any danger. I couldn’t take the movie serious at all – scenes cut out oddly, in the middle of conversations. Sooo many songs in the first half – added nothing and bored me stiff.

Vikram suddenly becomes Veera for a stretch, doing the same ravanan nonsense. We don’t get once scene with the lovebirds to form some kind of attacement but have to believe this guy is messed up forever by this lady. I thought Vikram was terrible. MR films have become weird – there’s no other word for it. People act in inexplicable, unrelatable ways. Casting is uniformly terrible. I need to give up watching his films. I’m mad – I didn’t enjoy ANYTHING in the film. They need to stop torturing animals for their films.

Coming to the worst part of the movie – the bgm. Holy hell, arr has been putting the same bgm for mr movies since yuva. What the fuck is this naai oolaittifying bgm in every film? It was dissonant and it plays in all the imp scenes. Loud, clangy and totally inconsistent with the time and tone of the film.

LikeLiked by 1 person
tamil thanos

October 3, 2022

Completely unrelated but I want to take you all back to 5 months ago when all of us here were calling the doom of Tamil Cinema this year after BEAST. What a turnaround it has been since Vikram. It’s quite promising and there is lots of hope.

LikeLiked by 3 people
madhusudhan194

October 4, 2022

@tamil Thanos: Most people in this blog ade big fans of drama. We love that exaggeration. We find reality uninteresting. We create our worlds and we are always right in it. 😀

LikeLiked by 2 people
Thoo

October 4, 2022

BTW, I haven’t gone to the theatre to watch many films in the last 2–3 years. The number of super obese people watching with me, drinking soda after soda and eating tub after tub….
@BR, also you were sitting 2 rows in front of me yesterday.

I know all of you hate me for my comment, but can some kind person spoil me a little, cos I will not be watching ps 2?

spoilers
So oomai rani is Nandini’s mom. Who is the dad? Clearly, Arulmozhi is going to put the other guy on the throne based on history – is that how it ends? What becomes of Nandini at the end?

LikeLike
Daisy

October 4, 2022

I really liked the movie. I had not read the books, so had no clue about any of the characters going in. However, I was able to follow along and was amazed at what Maniratnam has been able to pull off. The female leads were disappointing and I was wondering who else could have played Nandini’s role. Ramya Krishnan was likely not considered due to Bahubali effect but Khusboo might have been able to pull this role off as she has enough acting chops. The one thing that I didn’t understand was when Arunmozhi is disguising VT as PS, I was confused why VT wasn’t playing along and told the soldiers from Tanjore that he is not PS and was running after the real PS when he clearly can see that there are enemies all around. Maybe, I have to read the book to get this, was t sure why PS was hanging around in Srilanka after rejecting the crown. Once you capture a place and set someone there to rule on your behalf, wouldn’t one return back to homeland? So all these schemes to get him back to Tanjore didn’t make sense, when that would have been the eventual course of action? Finally, did Trisha dub for the film? It seemed like her voice but it also seemed not like her voice.

LikeLike
Madan

October 4, 2022

Daisy : Why PS cannot be king of Lanka is explained by the character himself. He may be the younger son of Sundara Chozha but he is not king and only a commander in Chozha’s army. So he cannot permit someone to coronate him unless the king has ordered it. He doesn’t intend to hang around there. The war is over and now, in light of developments in Thanjavur, is to be brought back anyway.

LikeLike
therag

October 4, 2022

IIRC in the novels, Sundara Chozha orders his son be captured because Arunmozhi is not supposed to accept the throne without the king’s permission (since it is technically a different kingdom and doing so could mean he declares independence from the Chola kingdom). In the movie, it is the other way round: he is to be captured because the crown belongs to the Chola empire and Arunmozhi should not have declined it.

Also, in the novels, the Buddhist sangam is one of three in Sri Lanka. Arunmozhi explains that being crowned by one of them does not really mean anything. Mahindan (the Sri Lankan emperor) is in the southern end of the island and still rules that piece of land. The Cholas rule the Northern half of the island.

LikeLike
lurker

October 4, 2022

Any idea why they changed the name from Arulmozhi to Arunmozhi in the movie? It’s a deviation from both the novel and from history, and strikes me as bizarre considering all other names are retained as such

LikeLike
brangan

October 4, 2022

One thing about this film’s timeline:

A lot of these events seem sequential when seen on screen, but they are simultaneous — they happen when the comet passes (with that bell-like sound in the BGM). So — for example — it “seems” that PS is spending a lot of time in Lanka but he actually isn’t. He is probably spending the same amount of time there that Kundavai is in her zone of the story, or AK in his zone.

LikeLike
Srinivas R

October 4, 2022

@lurker – The makers put out a video of research showing that the actual name of Raja Raja Cholan is Arunmozhi Varman. It later morphed to Arulmozhi in re telling of tales. They decided to retain Arunmozhi as per their research.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Srinivas R

October 4, 2022

LikeLiked by 1 person
vijay

October 4, 2022

” I swear I thought I saw PS whispering or saying something to the elephant when he gets on and then it runs amock…which is how I figured it was in his control all along. Did I just imagine that!?”

No he does do that..I figured that he was manipulating the elephant to his advantage. As to why he gave Karthi his armor and crown may be to throw his pusuers off his trail and think vandhiyathevan as the prince and/or to officially anoint vandhiyathevan as some sort of ‘prince’ for the warriors he was leaving behind..like he said, a sort of dress rehearsal for some day whne VT my be a Chola king..the dialogue by the Pandyas on ship reveals that they mistook Vandhiyathevan to be Arulmozhi.
I think if we catch this again on OTT a second time many of the kinks can be ironed out in our minds..

LikeLike
RK

October 4, 2022

Caught the telugu version in Hyderabad. Have mixed feelings. Loved the production design, camera work and all the actors did well except for Vikram. Vikram dubbed himself for the telugu version and couldn’t understand lot of stuff especially when he narrates his childhood love story to his friend. Music was drowning the dialogue in that scene and i was trying hard to understand as that looked like the core of the story. Except for first song, all the others are not effective in telugu and also felt like distractions. Loved Karthi’s flirting with all three leading ladies and dialogues were good.

Climax felt underwhelming. I mean both Karthi and Ravi will be saved by mother Aishwarya character, right? Why not show that instead of creating suspicion of their deaths.

LikeLiked by 1 person
H. Prasanna

October 5, 2022

Regarding Vetrimaaran’s speech:

That was a surprisingly bad bit of wokewashing from Vetrimaaran. He begins the speech by saying how he (responsibly) talked to Thol Thirumavalavan about representing oppressed castes and their problems before making Asuran. He says Thiruma had only one advice: Do not show that one hero solves all the problems of caste oppression. He also says Thiruma had the same problem after watching the movie. He vaguely says he showed the hero solving problems because of unavoidable (commercial) reasons. However, when talking about MR’s choice of making Rajaraja Cholan Hindu (lets assume he wasn’t), he says it is a part of a broader politco-cultural movement of taking cinema away from “oppressed peoples”.

Jeyamohan (who was one of the writers of PS) is an actual expert in Tamil historical literature and has worked with and written extensively about oppressed castes. He says Vetrimaaran’s representation of the particular caste being oppressed was wrong in Asuran.

LikeLike
Enigma

October 5, 2022

Looks like Ponniyin Selvan 1 is doing well at the Box Office https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63085348

LikeLike
Anand Raghavan

October 5, 2022

Not seen Vetrimaran speech . Did anywhere in the movie was there a reference to “Hindu”? To my knowledge , be it Azhwarkadiyan who raises Saivam-Vainavam fight, Sembiyanmadevi talking about Siva bhakti of Kandaradidthyar , it never did mention Hindu. Saivam, Vaibavam, Boudham were referenced in the novel, MR has stuck to that.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Anand Raghavan

October 5, 2022

*Vainavam

LikeLike
ItsVerySimple

October 5, 2022

Here is Thol. Thirumalavan, whom Jeyamohan adores to bits – just mentioning it because the names are being discussed – on Vetrimaaran’s comment. Will be interesting to see the reactions going forward.

இராஜராஜ சோழன் காலத்தில் சைவம் வேறு; வைணவம் வேறு. திருநீறு பட்டை வேறு; திருமண் நாமம் வேறு. இரண்டும் வெளிப்படையாக மோதிக்கொண்டன. குருதிச் சேற்றில் தலைகள் உருண்டன. மாறிமாறி மதமாற்றம் செய்து கொண்டன. அக்காலத்தில் ஏது இந்து? இக்காலத்து லிங்காயத்துக்களே தாங்கள் இந்துக்கள் இல்லை.. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/cWQkPBdqq2

— Thol. Thirumavalavan (@thirumaofficial) October 4, 2022

LikeLike
Enigma

October 5, 2022

Looks like this controversy will help PS. Vetrimaaran is doing Mani Ratnam a favour.

LikeLike
vijay

October 5, 2022

Anand, I had the same thought. I dont recall any explicit mention of ‘Hinduism’ anywhere..these guys make a controversy out of nothing..

LikeLiked by 3 people
Madan

October 5, 2022

I don’t follow this controversy at all. Vetri and his comrades can write whatever they want. Mani doesn’t make a reference to an overarching Hindu identity anywhere in PS1. He does show Nambi as Vaishnavite and some others, particularly Madurantakan, as Shaivite. Which is as per the book. Suppose we ignore the book (even though the film is based on it), is it not true that Raja Raja Chozhan built Shiva temples? So what actually is the point here and did Vetri see the film or is he just flying ideological kites in the thin air his claim is made of?

LikeLiked by 4 people
Enigma

October 5, 2022

Madan, I don’t think Vetrimaaran made a reference to this movie.

LikeLike
H. Prasanna

October 5, 2022

@Enigma
It is ambiguous whether he talks about this movie because he says “it will also happen in cinema” wrt Rajaraja Cholan being painted as a Hindu. Obviously, in the current scenario, the only movie made about Rajaraja Cholan is PS. So the implication is heavy.
But either way, as described by Jeyamohan in his analysis of Asuran, Vetrimaaran is guilty of rewriting caste identities in movies himself. So, instead of wokewashing, he could have said we do it cinema, we should try to find ways around it (because he says art for art’s sake is not acceptable).

LikeLiked by 1 person
Eswar

October 5, 2022

I have only seen the Vetrimaaran speech clip that BR shared. I assume he is referring to BJP celebrating Raja Rajan as a Hindu king a few years ago. Around the same time, there was a portrayal of Valluvar with a saffron robe instead of his usual white robe. Didn’t Vetrimaran mention Valluvar before mentioning Raja Raja Chozhan? Like Enigma says, I didn’t think Vetrimaran was referring to the movie itself.

LikeLiked by 2 people
ItsVerySimple

October 5, 2022

@Eswar – Agree. I guess the timing made it look like he was talking about the film. This discussion has been going around for quite sometime in Tamil circles, even last year Ranjith spoke about the king (on a different tangent though).

LikeLiked by 2 people
Enigma

October 5, 2022

@ H. Prasanna, I would think that as Eswar says, Vetrimaaran was referring to something that BJP had said. In that video, Vetrimaaran is not making any reference to Ponniyin Selvan. Also, I don’t think that he has any problems with Mani Ratnam. He was there for the Nayagan @35 event which BR had hosted. That was just a couple of months ago.

LikeLiked by 2 people
therag

October 5, 2022

I wonder why Vetrimaran is getting involved with politicians and politics. I guess it is just one of those invariants of Tamil cinema. The moment you become an “important” filmmaker, you have to on one side or the other.

LikeLiked by 2 people
H. Prasanna

October 5, 2022

@Enigma Yeah, I think I reacted too soon.

LikeLike
Venkat

October 5, 2022

Suppose we ignore the book (even though the film is based on it), is it not true that Raja Raja Chozhan built Shiva temples? So what actually is the point here and did Vetri see the film or is he just flying ideological kites in the thin air his claim is made of?<<
As others have pointed out, I think Vetrimaaran is referring to right wing forces celebrating Raja Raja as a Hindu king (a la Shivaji) but it’s possible that he mentioned the king, along with Valluvar, because PS-1 is the craze of the season. His remark is not surprising at all. For those on the Dravidian (and Tamil nationalist) side, Raja Raja built Shiva temples because he is a Shaivaite. They see Shaivism and Vaishnavism as separate religions that existed in the Tamil land, and Hinduism as something foisted on Tamils (I’m simplifying things a bit). You can see that Thirumavalavan has said something similar in his tweet supporting Vetri. These arguments have been going on for at least a century now.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Chanakya

October 5, 2022

Does anyone else feel the editing wasn’t up to the mark? It’s been almost week since I watched film, but two scenes keep bothering me. I felt the editing was choppy in those two scenes. One was the chase scene that leads up to the sword fight between Vandiyathevan and Arunmozhi. The other one was Arunmozhi’s escape from the camp on an elephant and the subsequent capture of Vandiyathevan by enemy forces.

LikeLiked by 2 people
anonymousviolin20

October 6, 2022

As someone who never read the books and only has a cursory understanding of Chola history, this film was fantastic. Props to the makers for making the film accessible to those who aren’t fully aware of the backstory/context.

I will say though, that it was a doozy trying to keep track of all of the character’s names despite being Tamil myself. I can only imagine my non-Tamil friends’ confusion when they watched it with me.

I already expected Karthi to pull off his role with aplomb (as he did), but I was pleasantly surprised by Trisha and Jayam Ravi. I was actually a bit disappointed with Vikram’s character, since he seemed the most one-note, but he might have his redeeming moments in part 2 (no spoilers please lol).

LikeLiked by 3 people
Doba

October 6, 2022

Finally managed to catch it :). Oh the riches – in terms of performances, art direction, and costumes!! The pithy dialogues compress multiple interactions into a few effective scenes. The characters from the book are retained but distilled.

I also liked the action here. You see the characters out of breath, sweating, and overcome by numbers. These are skilled warriors but not superhuman. They get thirsty and tired and sometimes barbaric and war is not glorified.

My whole family watched it. The older generation loved it :). It was awesome seeing their joy and excitement.

Where is MANK? Has he watched it and reviewed it? Mank, if you are reading this, please do 🙂

LikeLiked by 3 people
Anu Warrier

October 7, 2022

Just caught this – in the theatre. We actually drove 17 miles to watch it. 🙂 I haven’t read the book though I have heard that my grandmother used to tear out each part from the magazine and finally had it bound. What I know about the Cholas is what I have read in my history books.

Yet, oh, how I loved this movie. I actually liked everything about it except the BGM which the theatre played at full blast. I had gone in with some trepidation because despite knowing Tamil, I was worried I wouldn’t follow what was going on. But I did! So did my husband though he had to depend on the subtitles.

Would love to watch it again when it comes on streaming, and yes, can’t wait for Part 2!

LikeLiked by 6 people
Anu Warrier

October 7, 2022

So, now that I have watched the film and loved it, I’d like to delve into the book. My Tamil is rusty from lack of use, and I will take decades to read the Tamil version. Kind souls have mentioned English translations in the comments. Could any of you tell me which translation is the better one? CV Karthik Narayan’s or Pavithra Sreenivasan’s?

LikeLike
Kaushik Bhattacharya

October 8, 2022

Watched it last night and thought it was really well put together, despite some bits feeling rushed. And it’s not just people in India who are on their phones instagramming away and being generally deplorable, my wife and I watched it in an inner suburb in London and it was as bad.

The acting was uniformly good but am I the only one (at least no one seems to have mentioned it in the comments) who thought Sarath Kumar was very ineffective? I think I heard in the audio launch, that Rajinikanth had asked Mani Ratnam for the PP role, now that would have been something!

LikeLike
Honest Raj

October 8, 2022

I think I heard in the audio launch, that Rajinikanth had asked Mani Ratnam for the PP role, now that would have been something.

By the time when Rajini approached MR, the shoot was almost over. 🙂

LikeLike
Karthik

October 9, 2022

Finally caught this movie! Loved, loved, loved, loved, loved it!! A truly intoxicating experience!

This is such a phenomenal adaptation of the novel. Despite this being less than half the written story, the screenplay structure stands so well, with its own parallels, echoes, layers. Maybe this is just the euphoria talking, but I was impressed with all the actors too. That they all get a chance to shine is really credit to the writing and filmmaking. The economic storytelling path that Mani has marched on since he made Iruvar, has paid all its dividends and then some. There’s just so much to unpack in every scene, every shot, every color.

(SPOILERS)
Like the way the two princes were introduced in the two halves. Karikalan emerges from the dust, looking like a lone tiger, who’s fighting only for himself. Arulmozhi, on the other hand, is standing in a ship full of soldiers. Everything he does, is for his people. Both princes head into battles, neither of which was glorified, but in fact were showcased with the barbarism of it all. One ends in a victory celebration and revelry while the other ends in a literal zen moment. The fact that Vandiyathevan starts by fighting shoulder to shoulder with one prince and the film ends with him doing the same with the other just perfectly bookends the story which is really written as his journey.

I loved how the songs were used in the film. The way Devaralan Attam played was every bit as incredible as the song itself. What an atmosphere it provided for that little exchange between Pazhuvettarayar and Vanthiyathevan, and what mood it set for the scene that followed. That the song had all these men dancing in front of a silent goddess painted in blacks and reds is such a visual metaphor for the chieftains dancing to Nandini’s silent tunes. In most of the scenes, she is draped in black or red (a red that really looked like her blood stained hands the camera focuses in the hut scene, almost like she wears her revenge like an armor).

Although the Ratchasa Mamaney song felt like an indulgence, it captures the playful spirit with which the early meeting scenes between Kundavai and Vandiyathevan were written in the book. Plus, it led to the moment where he cant help but unmask himself in front of her, literally and metaphorically. The contrast between that scene where Vandiyathevan talks to Kundavai, and one where he talks to Nandini was beautifully captured. With Nandini, there’s nothing he could really hide. That moment when Nandini talks about his “kingdom” showed how she could see right into him.

The dialogue writing in that scene and the scenes between Kundavai and Nandini were superb. There’s this whole connecting thread from being seduced by gold (Nandini-Vandiyathevan exchange), which leads to the shot of gold in a cage, that connects to the golden chains (Kundavai-Nandini exchange), and the golden palace that Karikalan has built (and refuses to leave). I dont remember making these connections in the book, but here it just comes out so well. That so many of these characters are really just prisoners of their position.

With Kundavai, we really sense from her hair, the clothes, jewelry and the measured gait, what the heaviness of running the kingdom must feel like. (This is again reinforced in her conversation with Karikalan) Its only when she hears about her brother from Vanathi, that we see her draped in ordinary clothes and no jewelry. At that moment, she’s just shown as a sister.

The bgm in the film sounded really fresh, but not all of it worked. I really liked the Pirates of the Caribbean like music during the Thanjavur chases, and the music for the climax battle too (actually I loved the boat battle, with the sound and visuals, the gush of the water felt so real). But some other bits, like the Nandini bgm felt on the nose and overdone.

Overall, this is way way more than I could have imagined an adaptation to be. This film is to the book what Vandiyathevan is to Arulmozhi Varman— a lively, loyal, and utterly lovable companion who can stand on his own if needed. If I had a complaint, its like BR says, I could have easily watched 10 hours of this.

LikeLiked by 6 people
Karthik

October 10, 2022

(SPOILERS)
Another thing about how the songs elevated the storytelling. Davaralan attam and Ratchasa Mamaney are like counterpoints to each other. They bookend Vanthiyathevan’s mini arc between Nandini and Kundavai. Devaralan symbolizes Vanthiyathevan being drawn into the wiles of Nandini (Pazhuvettarayar literally tells him to watch the dance). In what follows, Nandini herself draws him into her “lair” with the ring. He is intoxicated by her beauty and possessed by the “demonic spirit” that drives her— he says he’ll go to hell and back many many times for her. When he leaves Nandini, he ends up at the Ratchasa Mamaney song which is really about ridding him of that very spirit. The color he wears on him are the colors of the Devaralan child Goddess, black and red. There are children in Ratchasa Mamaney too, but they are possessed by the playful spirit of Krishna who kills his (inner) demon through the song. Finally when he meets Kundavai, his intoxication is slowly mellowed— she brings down his braggadocio about killing soldiers just by smiling at him. This is again reinforced when he says that for Kundavai, he’ll go to heaven and back once. And tucked in this exchange is a point that war killing is an intoxication, which is a theme that is underlined by another song, Chola Chola. Vandiyathevan’s mini arc between Nandini and Kundavai is part of his larger arc between Karikalan and Arulmozhi Varman. He is a little drunk when he has that first conversation with Karikalan who is wholly intoxicated by war, and in the end of the film when he is with Arulmozhi, he/they are consumed/cleansed by water.

LikeLiked by 4 people
Deepika

November 1, 2022

Please tell me there are more interviews on PS

LikeLiked by 1 person
Srinivas R

November 1, 2022

There was a question of “why does Arunmozhi Varman make Vanthiyadevan dress as the prince” in these parts.

It is simply to escape from his own men (Prabhu & Vikram Prabhu discourage him from being arrested) trying to stop him from surrendering to the Chola army who have come to arrest him. That is why Jayam Ravi has to instigate the elephant to go wild and while escaping, Vanthiyadevan is mistaken for Arunmozhivarman by his own men.

It is not to escape from the Abathudhavigal of Pandiyas.

LikeLike
Satya

November 2, 2022

Anu Warrier: I personally prefer Pavitra Sreenivasan’s. Had a good time reading a few chapters (I opted for a Telugu audio book narrative in KukuFM for all the five books).

LikeLiked by 1 person
sravishanker1401gmailcom

November 2, 2022

The portraits of thiruvalluvar BEFORE Independence are out and out Shaivite. Its is crystal clear who is doing the ideological whitewashing here

LikeLiked by 1 person
Yajiv

November 2, 2022

@sravishanker: I remember my Iyengar uncle being very firm in his belief that Valluvar was a Vaishnavite (he had a whole list of historical evidence supporting his claim) 🙂 I guess the truth will never be truly known unless someone invents time travel.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Sri Prabhuram

November 4, 2022

I finally got to watch this on Prime. As someone who hasn’t read the novel or wasn’t familiar with the characters, I found the movie to be very accessible and enjoyable and I am looking forward to Part II.

LikeLiked by 1 person
Madan

November 4, 2022

Watched it on OTT – having watched it in theater before – and liked it even more. On the second watch, the beats, the shifts in tempo and emotion were easier to get hold of now that I knew the plotline beforehand. So I would go back a little on my earlier assessment that there is not much of a Mani point of view of PS-1. I would say the crux is in the two scenes featuring Adi Karikalan and Nandini separately where they live out the flashback. Mani’s thesis, then, is that this conspiracy and tumult that could potentially uproot the kingdom is actually rooted in a romance that went sour. Outrageous or not, it’s an interesting perspective and one that links PS to other historical epics.

LikeLiked by 4 people
Anand Raghavan

November 4, 2022

Yes, i think not having over the top CG scenes in fact helps as that is the one that ages quickly. This would stand the test of time. Of course , the well is only half crossed. PS2 has to better this.

LikeLiked by 2 people

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

	Jayram on Readers Write In #563: Letters…
	Jayram on Readers Write In #489: Celebra…
	lakshmi on Interview: MM Keeravani (RRR,…
	lakshmi on Interview: MM Keeravani (RRR,…
	Satya on Readers Write In #563: Letters…
	YouTubers channels v… on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…
	Karthik on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…
	Karthik on Readers Write In #564: Thought…
	Vijay Ramanathan on Readers Write In #564: Thought…
	hari prasad on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…
	Madan on Readers Write In #564: Thought…
	Ravi K on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…
	Jeeva Pitchaimani on Readers Write In #563: Letters…
	Madan on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…
	Madan on From the Web (FTW) #6: The New…

Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality… (continued from earlier post)

Leave a Reply

Blog Stats

Follow Blog via Email

My books

Other blogs

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts

Mani Ratnam and his fantastic team beautifully capture the essence of Kalki’s characters in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1’, which infuses a period story with a sense of lived-in reality… (continued from earlier post)

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Leave a Reply

Blog Stats

Follow Blog via Email

My books

Other blogs

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Recent Posts