By Krishnaraj Sambath
As a Watcher
FDFS (my first ever!) on 30-Sep-2022, 6PM show in Houston, TX. There were 5 of us in total in the theatre, including my wife and 4-yr old son. (Not the ear-deafening paper-showering cinematic FDFS experience I was hoping for)
As a Reader
Why did I pick up this book?
While the face reveal of Oomai Rani was a cliffhanger and left me wanting to know what next, it was only part of the reason. I recalled from one of the PS-I promo interviews Maniratnam saying that if the movie inspires the audience to read the book, he considers this film a success (or something to that effect). That was enough of a push for me to buy the book. So I did, that same day.
How did I go about it?
Reading anything (let alone a novel, the most epic one at that) in Tamil after two decades was a struggle, to be honest. It took a while for the muscle memory to kick in. But when it did, it just flowed like a .. Ponni nadhi. (What nostalgia!) Where I cheated – skipped all songs, skimmed through “recaps” of mental states (which may have been needed for a long novel, told over 4 years, but not when “binge-reading”) I was expecting written Tamil 70 years ago to be different from what it is today. But that wasn’t the case. There was hardly a need for the dictionary. Few words where I needed help, I could just guess (like Dhoomakedhu – Shooting star; Pirayam – Age)
I knew it was easier to start than it was to actually go through with it (Thanks to many failed New Year resolutions). So, I needed a crutch / coach. Come it did, in the form of google spreadsheets, which I used to track my reading progress (I’m sure there’s an app for this, I was just old school). I also recall BR’s advice to Anupama Chopra – read 10 pages every day or something like that). So, I took that too, sort of.
The chart below shows the number of chapters read since the inception of my journey. The blue line shows how many chapters I had completed on a given date. The black lines were goal posts of each part. The dashed gray line is the line of best of fit – to give me an idea of when I might finish. Thanks to Kalki’s riveting writing (and holiday season), I was able to complete it in ~10 weeks (a good 3 weeks ahead of projection).
How much of the book has been covered in the movie?
Inner pie shows the number of chapters and parts in the PS, the book. The outer donut shows how much of the story has been covered in the PS, the movie Roughly speaking, PS-I first half followed events in Baagam-I (including the interval block of Aadhitha Karikalan – Nandhini backstory) and PS-I second half followed events in Baagam-II Similar to the book, the movie ends with a cyclone in the ocean and “perceived death” of Arunmozhi Varman in the Palk Strait (Don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Arunmozhi doesn’t actually die)
However, the reveal of Oomai Rani’s character is an “induced” high in the movie. Her character is introduced and established earlier. (Arunmozhi Varman, Poonguzhali & Oomai Rani will have a nice supper in Ilangai the night before they head back to Thanjavur only to get stuck in the cyclone.)
This metric of no. of chapters covered (admittedly a flawed one) shows PS-I covers the first third of the novel, presumably leaving a fair bit to cover in PS-II. While there may be some trimming on backstories and recaps, I expect PS-II will hit most of the high/key-points from parts 3-5 of the novel. (I also recall one of the artists mentioning MR doesn’t want to do PS-III)
Who was Kalki’s favorite character in Ponniyin Selvan?
Below I look at the number of mentions of a character in the novel by Mr. Kalki. I will be the first to admit “quantity” is not equal to “quality” or “importance”. I was tangentially inspired by “speech analysis of presidents”. although this is much more rudimentary (and pedestrian). Few notes before we look at the results:
● I did a simple Ctrl+F on character names and noted down the count of appearances Kindle reported (I was surprised and impressed that this feature worked in Tamil font)
● When search results yielded 1000+ results, Kindle didn’t provide an exact number (but simply said 1000+). Thankfully, there were only two characters with this “millenia of mentions” star status
● Some (many?) characters are referred to with multiple names. For e.g., Poonguzhali as Samudhrakumari, Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar as Kalandhagar. In these cases, for “ease of analysis”, I just stuck to their primary names. Also, the secondary names generally weren’t used as often as their primary names.
● Arulmozhi Varman was an exception. Ponniyin Selvan (for understandable reasons) occurs just as often as Arulmozhi Varman. So, I added the number of mentions of “Ponniyin Selvan” to “Arulmozhi Varman”
● __________Pazhuvettaraiyars required another sort of adjustments – because there are two of
them (Chinna and Periya). Once a scene / chapter is established that it is for “Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar”, Mr. Kalki drops “Periya” and just uses “Pazhuvettaraiyar”. And just the word “Pazhuvettaraiyar” occurs 1000+ times. To keep things simple, “Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar” occurs 314 times. I associated the rest (~700) to “Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar” (who does have more presence between the two).
Now onto some observations:
● It is probably not a surprise that Vanthiyathevan tops the chart
● I wasn’t expecting Poonguzhali to come second, although I can’t say I’m fully surprised (whose role maintains significance throughout the novel)
● I was a bit let down that Kundavai does not feature as often as I would have liked her to
On Kalki’s writing style:
● Kalki provides incredible depth & detail for every scene. Here is one example: The pandiya warriors meet at a “paazhadaindha palliyarai”. Kalki goes on to explain about this place being memorial raised for those who lost their lives in bloodiness of the wars, how it was originally maintained well & frequently visited (like a museum) and overtime people lost context & interest. A second example is Kalki’s discussion on backstories and motivations for why Kodambalur King (Nizhalgal Ravi) supports Madhurandhagan and Malayaman (Lal) supports Adhithakarikalan. This story also involves some vivid imagery of babies buried with just the head up and stamped by elephants
● Kalki threads the zone of Vandhiyathevan’s fantasy of Kundavai carefully – without coming across like a hormonal teenager. He also threads carefully of Vandhiyathevan thinking about both Kundavai & Nandhini at the same time
● Without doubt, Kalki’s creativity, imaginative mind and his understanding of human behavior shines through in how he weaves such sprawling stories through known real facts. A line from Mahabharatham’s title song comes to mind: “Oru kadhaikul pala kadhai; Pala kathaiyil oru vidhai”
● Kalki’s lines are indistinguishable from Maniratnam lines (or vice versa). E.g. Kundavai to Vandiyathevan: Jump onto the river; Exactly like Sakthi to Karthik (in Alaipayuthey): Jump from the train
● Kalki (as the narrator) breaks the fourth wall, very often. I first found it odd and off-key, but eventually got used to it. (It may have been required back when this novel came out, in weekly issues over 4+ years.)
● Kalki switches between epic layered conversation and pedestrian / silly chat. Almost feels like two different people authored it.
● Nandhini’s lines (by Kalki) are razor sharp! Two chapters of events (which I thought would not make it to the movie) suddenly assumes context and heft by a single line of Nandhini.
● In most chapters, the first 2/3rd is a description of the mental state of characters and the next 1/3rd is the actual scene/event
● One oddity was that quite a few characters, when expressing surprise, start with their lines with “Aaga!”. I can’t imagine that’s how people actually spoke back then.
● Title of chapters, in several cases, turned out to be spoilers giving away the main crux of that chapter (especially within the context of events preceding that chapter). I’m not sure why Kalki chose that instead of letting the reader discover what happens.
● In Author’s endnotes, Kalki’s use of English word “Anti-climax” was like a bolt out of the blue, especially after an ocean of unadulterated classical Tamil
● Most mysteries are solved fully, but some are left at 80% solved. This was a bit unsatisfying to me. I’m curious how MR would handle this
● Kalki comes across as a humble person (an impression formed, rightly or not, based on author’s notes)
Assorted thoughts on that era:
● Kings must’ve wielded unrealistic scary powers – The poet in this wiki translation goes on and on about how awesome the king is – before getting to the point.
● Sending a message to your lover takes several days. It takes several more days to know if your message was delivered. Now, all it takes is a double blue tick.
● It’s easy for me to ask now. But I couldn’t help but wonder, if that golden era that stretched several hundred years (900 – 1200) and vast ruling territories, why didn’t our science & technology progress, proliferate and explode in the thousand years since? Why aren’t we already multi-planetary-space-colonizing-species?
● Surprised that there was a “coin minting factory”, they had “taxes” and tax-waivers
My thoughts on PS casting, with book in mind:
● Karthi fit his character to the T. I kept hearing Karthi’s voice as I read lines of Vandhiyathevan – who portrays a mix of playfulness, innocence & tomfoolery. To be honest though, I also thought Vijay (of Ghillli times) would’ve been equally interesting (and probably also made better business)
● Trisha nailed her character as well. Can’t imagine anyone else for her role.
● As good as Shobita was, I kept thinking what a perfect match Aditi Rao Hydari would’ve been for Vanathi
● For Vikram & Aishwarya Rai, I wished for slightly younger versions of themselves for their roles (not being mean here)
● Kanthamaran has such a prominent role – not sure why they didn’t get a known star. Maybe someone like Ashok Selvan or Vishnu Vishal
● Manimegalai (Kanthamaran’s sister, Nizhalgal Ravi’s daughter) is an important character – I’m excited to see who’s going to play that role in PS-II
● I thought Parthiban got a short end of the stick in PS-I with minimal screen time (which is reflective of the book, to be fair). But he does get his moments towards (and after?) climax
● Prakashraj’s wife (the queen empress) surprisingly has little to no mention / role in the book, which is reflected in the movie as well
● Mathuranthakan is such an unlikeable character, incompetent even to be a villain. Credit to Rahman for playing it
As a Writer
Can’t really call myself that, with just this scratch. Well, this is my first non-technical writing
anyways. It’s for you all to react now.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Caesium
January 5, 2023
Thanks, BR sir, for hosting this (and being an inspiration to read and write)!
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Deepika
January 5, 2023
Thank you, Krishnaraj Sambath, for the write-up.. I had real joy going through it. Two things I wanted to say. One, the volumes are not rigid compartmentalization in the movie (like your circular charts).. There are episodes from the third volume that come in the second half of the first part itself. The scene where Mathuranthankar asks Neeyum oru thaaya, is an example. I haven’t read the second volume yet, so I can’t comment more on this.
Second, in order to condense the book while not missing much of the substance, and to remain true to the spirit of the novel, some staging and scene descriptions are inter mixed. So, here again, we cannot stick to the compartmentalization, there are scenes in the first movie, which are staged and portrayed like scenes from the latter volumes. The meeting scene of Kundhavai and VV, where he introduces himself to K, the whole scene is not done in how it was in the first volume, but in the way of their second meeting from the third volume.
And a nice thing I got from your graph that there are hikes steeper, I am guessing when you were at the last few chapters of each volume? I felt the gripping part of the storyline did that wonder to me as well.. 🙂
Again, thanks for the analysis.
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Raghu Narayanan
January 5, 2023
@Deepika: Where there’s talk of PS, there you shall be 😁👍. I have noticed this on other comments as well, you seem to be able to pinpoint events in the book by volume and chapter, as if you just read them yesterday. So how many times have you read this book? 😁
@KS: Seems like the ‘aatma’ of PS has got inside you as well! To quote a favorite movie line of mine, ” Welcome to the party, pal!!”. And a super unique point of view write-up.
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Raghu Narayanan
January 5, 2023
@KS: Regarding your points on casting, a few thoughts from my side (maybe some spoliers!)
And then your point about some mysteries being left 80% solved as per the book. I guess these would need to be taken to their logical conclusion in the movie for sure. There is an epilogue sort of write up which Kalki wrote as a response to his readers’ questions when he sort of abruptly finished the novel in his magazine. This epilogue throws some light as to what happens post the ending of the novel. Am sure MR would have taken inspiration from this to close out the open-ends that the novel has.
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brangan
January 5, 2023
Deepika, you are right. I think many people were expecting a very faithful adaptation, but Mani and team break apart the novel and — while maintaining a thin line of fidelity — reassemble it in a “cinematic” way. The ending was completely unexpected, and breathtaking as a cliffhanger plus reveal of a character (what Krishnaraj Sambath calls an “induced high”).
Another thing: While there may be five volumes, if you remove the descriptive parts and stick only to plot and character, there’s just probably enough for two three-hour films. For instance, the meeting between Vandhiya Thevan and Nandini in her palace is as “visually” instructive as cinema can be. The visual compositions and choreography compensate for a lot of the prose.
Yes, some purists are going to miss — say — the “comical” Vanathi in this abbreviated version. But then, most people who have not read the novel are not really going to have an issue.
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Deepika
January 5, 2023
@Raghu: Haha, you are on point! Yes, I have read it twice, the sharpness is coming from the fact that I took up PS only recently. Thanks to MR.. 😊
BR.. You are in line with Truffaut when you make that argument about audience expecting a faithful adaptation. If there are 100 movies releasing in a year, only 10-12 of them catch the attention of critics. MR’s movies (be they hits or flops) are amongst them. The reason Truffaut gave for French Cinema essentially coming out of that whole psychological realism era was when authors of novels and ‘auteur’s of cinema came together. In that sense, credits are due also to Kumaravel and Jeyamohan. As they say, “An honest adaptation is a betrayal”..
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H. Prasanna
January 5, 2023
Interesting read, Caesium. Movie analyses really should include more graphs!
PS: “paper-showering cinematic FDFS experience I was hoping for”. You are supposed to take the papers!
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Honest Raj
January 5, 2023
Kada Kumar, KS, Caesium, Krishnaraj Sambath – ivanga naalu perum ore aala?
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Caesium
January 5, 2023
@ Honest Raj: Caesium and Krishnaraj Sambath are the same person – me. I haven’t had other pseudonyms on this blog. 😬
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Madan
January 5, 2023
KS = Kadakumar and Caesium = Krishnaraj Sambath. I guess…
Great write up, Caesium! I have only read vols 1 and 2 and based on that, my only gripes in terms of what the movie didn’t cover are the Nambi sneezing scene and the characterization of Poonguzhali.
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KS
January 5, 2023
KrishnarajSambath is clearly a nicer guy, and shouldn’t be confused with the troll Kadakumar/KS. Thankfully, he’s changed his avatar to avoid the ignominy of misidentification, so I can continue to do me without tarnishing his name.
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Caesium
January 5, 2023
Thanks for the comments, folks.
One more thought which kept coming to me as I read the novel: It must have been a gargantuan undertaking, for MR and team, to have (re)read and rewrite Kalki’s PS and adapt it for cinematic storytelling it. They are obviously so passionate about it and hence did what they did!
While I am a fan of most movies of MR, I have the most respect for him for PS! 🙏🏼
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Caesium
January 5, 2023
@ Deepika / BR on “deviations of movie from the book”, I’m fully with you. I certainly don’t expect a faithful remake either. In fact, I liked that the Kudandhai jodhidar character was axed in the movie! We’ve seen this trope several times (e.g. Sivaji – karunaaku jodhidar – requiring Rajni to reincarnate)
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KS
January 5, 2023
Also, am I the only one who didn’t find the movie so great? I was very late for the party in the PS1 thread, since I caught it online much later.
It was certainly watchable, but seemed a bit too by-the-numbers, with nothing particularly remarkable. A very ordinary story with stock characters, adapted in the most direct way. No real intrigue or suspense. The dialogues were all barely functional. None of the actors (who are all accomplished stalwarts) could really express themselves thanks to the cartoonish costumes and stilted Tamil, so everyone felt robotic. This movie didn’t need ManiRatnam, and didn’t have his vibe or stamp at all. And the music was horrendous.
I haven’t read the Tamil novel, maybe that has more layers and complexities. But thats no excuse. The Song of Fire and Ice has a lot more material as well, but Game of Thrones is still fascinating in its own way (at least until the last couple of seasons). Granted, thats a long-form TV show as opposed to a movie or two, but thats not our problem. Its for the makers to judge wisely regarding the choice of duration needed to convey the story effectively.
But after all the hype around veterans wanting to adapt this for decades and ManiRatnam finally transcending the curse and all, the final product wasn’t much more than competent. Idha thaan rathri poora okandhu ottindhangala. No wonder PS1 didn’t click outside Tamil Nadu, unlike Bahubali. And I doubt its for flattering reasons (like “PS1 is very rooted in pure Tamil culture, and outsiders won’t get it” and such). The latter has its faults, but it had more imagination that left more of an impact.
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Honest Raj
January 6, 2023
@Caesium: Oh, well! Thanks for clarifying. 🙂
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Caesium
January 7, 2023
@my initials-sake: You’re certainly the more articulate one. 😁
What made PS movie special for me was that it made things that were mythical and surreal, so real.
When I was in school, I was assigned to Cheras (green badges, which we wore everyday for 12 years). I had been to Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Kanchipuram.
So, to suddenly see all these, in context, in all their glory and exquisite details, with lives of real people in the center was just astounding!
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Raghu Narayanan
January 7, 2023
KS: “Also, am I the only one who didn’t find the movie so great?”
No, not quite. Even within my close circle of acquaintances, which cannot be considered as a sample size, I have come across a few who did not find the movie great. In fact there was one who drew the same comparison with Baahubali as you have done here.
I guess what worked for PS the movie was the vast fan base for the novel, a fan base which is spread across generations, who would have been surefire one time watchers when the movie came out. And the success of the movie should have been due to the reason that the movie satisfied this vast fan base that the novel had. I, for one, is part of this fan base who found that the movie was taken well. This could explain why the movie did not work outside TN as well.
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vijay
January 9, 2023
Caesium, there was a complaint from a section of the audience who have read of the novels, that Azhwar kadaiyan Nambi became the butt of usual Tamil-style Tambram jokes in Tamil cinema(eg, ‘puliyodharai’, ‘meen kozhambu’ etc.which I suspected were added in the film and not in the novel) with Karthi treating him like a comic side-kick, whereas in the novel he was depiected as much more. Did you feel Mani diluted the character a bit keeping in mind the Dravidian ambience of the current times?
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Caesium
January 9, 2023
@vijay: Yeah, even when I saw the movie (before reading the book), that slapstick style comedy between Jayaram and Karthi didn’t work for me. (I brushed it aside it thinking it was meant for kids)
In the book too, though, there was heavy and repeated referencing to Shaivaite-Vaishnavaite banter. It felt like Nambi was almost looking for a chance to bring that in in every conversation. I didn’t mind it as much, thinking he maybe doing it deliberately as a “cover” for his real identity (spy).
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Caesium
January 9, 2023
Having said that though, Jayaram gets arguably the best line of the movie when he says to Karthi (as the latter tries on Chola Manimagudam): “Thalai bathiram” 😂
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Raghu Narayanan
January 9, 2023
“there was a complaint from a section of the audience who have read of the novels”
Well, I for one is surely in that section of the audience 🙂. And I have voiced this as a comment in another Readers Write In post about PS.
It somehow came upon me to finish reading the novel before the movie released. And so I did. All 5 volumes and in Tamizh. It’s now my No. 1 fiction across both English and Tamizh for various reasons and drove me to write my first Readers Write In and get initiated into the cult of BR! But this one feature of the movie, I felt, was done in bad taste and also did injustice to the role as envisioned by Kalki. Actually in the novel the roles get reversed as Vanthiya Thevan is the novice in the game of politics and Alwarkadiyan is an experienced hand, and it’s the latter who actually saves the former from precarious situations more than once. To see how this got diluted for the sake of a few laughs was sad.
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Caesium
January 9, 2023
Talking about PS-II, loved the teaser cut. I did not imagine the scene where Vikram sits on stage of devarattam (Kadamboor palace). (It played out simpler in my head). Same with Jayam Ravi walking among the monks. Lovey visuals. Expected nothing less from the master storyteller! 🙏🏽
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