Maniratnam’s dream project, Ponniyin Selvan, is based on a popular fictional novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy and has as its historical context the ascent of one of the Sozha Kings, Arunmozhi Varman – or Raja Raja Sozhan – whose influence in Tamil Nadu remains today.
Karthi plays Vallavaraayan Vandhayadevan, an acid-tongued, fearless and fun-loving prince. He is given an important task by his friend and master, Aditha Karikaalan – played by Vikram. Karikaalan and his father, brother and sister are in different regions. The Kingdom is facing serious threats and Karikaalan asks Vandhayadevan to ensure that the crucial messages gets delivered to each of his family members.
In an eventful journey, Vandhayadevan needs to deliver the messages in time, unravelling more of the threats facing the kingdom as well as the mutiny being planned within the kingdom in the form of Periya and Chinna Pazhuvettarayar – played by R Sarathkumar and R. Parthiban respectively. Playing a pivotal role in posing a danger to the kingdom is the intriguing Nandhini – played by Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan – whose motivation in the story is revealed shortly before intermission.
Scripted by Maniratnam, Illango Kumaravel and Jeyamohan, Ponniyin Selvan was marketed as a film that would reignite Tamil and Indian pride and take an essential story to international audiences. To what extent does the film succeed in this?
The film has some huge positives. Every member of the huge cast delivers a spirited and intense portrayal of their respective characters. Vikram’s visibly dark expressions and inner restlessness in the earlier scenes show the calibre of actor he is. Karthi is in his element in a role that accentuates all his strengths. Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan and Trisha are both electrifying in different ways, both portraying powerful women, and one even gets a teaser of the potential of them sharing more screen space, but the audience is denied this potential feast. Sarathkumar and R Parthiban are most convincing while Prakash Raj towers over the others in his role as the Sozhar emperor, Sundhara Sozhar. Jayam Ravi impresses in his portrayal as Arunmozhi Varman. Rahman and Aishwarya Lakshmi also do enough to be memorable.
Apart from the acting performances, the other huge plus in the film is Ravi Varman’s cinematography. From the opening battle sequences to the splendour of the locations and the creative use of light in the indoor scenes, this is easily one of the most remarkable feats of cinematography in recent times and must surely put Ravi Varman in contention for numerous awards.
The brilliance of Ravi Varman’s cinematography is accentuated by the skill of Sreekar Prasad’s editing.
With all these positives, one would expect Ponniyin Selvan to be a near flawless film but its overall impact has been dampened by the script and the screenplay. Most of the characters are not given the time to develop and this would have been pardonable if the screenplay had a rapid pace, but it does not. Instead, there are many scenes that are longer than they should have been while the crucial scenes appear to be rushed through. The script itself is far too wordy which further reduces the pace. It is also irksome that the Tamil featured is inconsistent, attempting for the most part to be in Senthamizh but never quite succeeding.
The humour seems contrived and, apart from taking up valuable screenplay time, reduces the pace of the narrative. The result is that even the comedic timing of Jayaram and Karthi are unable to make these scenes palatable.
A lot of praise has been heaped on AR Rahman for his soundtrack and background score. Personally, apart from the song Ponni Nadhi where the catchy chorus makes it memorable, none of the songs have the ability to grab and hold attention. Rahman’s background score simply does not match the visual splendour of the film as it fails to experiment.
Finally, the film does not ignite Tamil pride, nor does it give much of a glimpse into the Sozhar rule. Perhaps it was not meant to do so but pre-release promotions certainly created this expectation.
Ponniyin Selvan with its rich tapestry of interesting characters certainly had the potential to take Tamil cinema to wider audiences but its lack of attention to critical aspects of film-making makes the attempt somewhat unsuccessful.
Despite that, Tamil audiences would revel in the visual splendour of the film which features so many of our favourite actors and actresses. There is enough of human passion – positive and negative – that seep through the story and it remains a film that should be viewed on the big screen.
Ponniyin Selvan scores 7 points out of 10.