Aishwarya Rai, Vikram and Jayam Ravi’s battle for the Chola throne intensifies in Mani Ratnam’s epic

After the resounding success of Ponniyin Selvan: I, audiences are eagerly awaiting the release of its sequel Ponniyin Selvan 2. Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus hits theaters around the world on April 28 and a month before its release, the creators unveiled the PS-2 trailer and audio at a grand event at the Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday, March 29.

The Ponniyin Selvan films are adapted from Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 novel of the same name, which was based on the war of succession in one of the strongest dynasties in the world – the Cholas. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, R Sarathkumar and Prakash Raj portray major historical figures.

The succession war continues in Ponniyin Selvan 2 as seen in the trailer. After Arulmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi) is presumed dead following the climax of the first film, Aditya Karikalan takes it upon himself to defend the Chola kingdom from the enemies and schemes of Nandini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan).

Several artists such as MG Ramachandran, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth had attempted to adapt Ponniyin Selvan’s novel into film over the past six decades but failed due to financial constraints. Finally, Mani Ratnam succeeded in his business. The National Award-winning filmmaker originally planned his “dream project” as one film, but then decided to split it into two parts.

The first part, released on September 30 last year, broke several box office records and grossed over Rs 500 crore worldwide at the box office. Ponniyin Selvan: I also became the second highest grossing Tamil film of all time after Shankar’s 2018 sci-fi film 2.0 starring Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar. The Enthiran suite collected above Rs 700 crore globally.

Originally made in Tamil, Ponniyin Selvan 2 will also be released in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada dubbed versions on April 28. The AR Rahman musical is funded by Mani Ratnam’s own banner, Madras Talkies and Allirajah Subaskaran’s Lyca Productions.