I usually don’t sit and write long essays about the movies that I have watched, but this story is absolutely close to my heart. So, I just had to.
And after the endless build up and anticipation (and of course after over 2 years thanks to Covid), we went to watch the Mani Ratnam magnum opus PS1!
I am someone who has read the 5-part novel by Kalki so many times that I can probably lay claim to some kind of record. I am a Thamizh speaking native but not an ardent fan of reading books in my own mother tongue. Blame it on my education! But the one author that I absolutely loved and revered was Kalki Krishnamoorthi. This love was inculcated by my Patti (maternal grandmother) and my amma. We had these humungous collections of all books that were published in magazines, painstakingly cut from the magazines and then bound into volumes. There were novels by other authors as well as by Kalki himself, but Ponniyin Selvan spoke to me at a different level.
I would imagine myself travelling beside the hero, the protagonist Vallavarayyan Vanthiathevan through the entire 5-part series. So, it was no wonder I was all excited to watch the much hyped about movie.
The first question here is, did it live up to all the hype on the media? If the hype was all about a magnum opus with a larger than life star cast, yes, it did.
The next question is, did it live up to my expectations? It lived up to my expectations of a larger than life entertainer, but it did not live up to my expectations of watching my favourite story being brought to life.
Expecting a word to word reproduction of the novel on the big screen is not correct, I totally agree. But my love for reading spoilt me and I am guilty of that.
The stars overshadowed the characters. I found it difficult to visualize a Vanthiathevan or a Nandini or Kunthavai when I was seeing Karthi, Aishwarya or Trisha on the screen. Strangely, while watching Aditya Karikalan on screen and his dance with his army in the dark corridors, I was reminded of Ranveer Singh’s character of Allaudin Khilji in the movie Rani Padmavati!
The Arulmozhi Varman or Ponniyin Selvan who later on in life took on the name of Raja Raja Cholan after he became king was not someone who I visualised with a scruffy beard or a rough look. Kalki described him otherwise and that is what was in my mind.
Even today, when I think of the Thamizh chieftain Veerapandiya Kattabomman, having never seen pictures or read any illustrated book on him, the first and only face that comes to my mind is that of Sivaji Ganesan who played that role in the movie by the same name. And while imagining Chhatrapathi Shivaji, I remember his face. Just say the words Lord Krishna, people from the older generations would remember NT Ramarao’s face.
In PS1, I was watching with preconceived notions and images thanks to reading this novel for over 4 decades repeatedly. (I own a digital copy too for those times when I am travelling and cannot tote those 5 volumes along!)
I have read the entire 7 book series of Harry Potter innumerable times and watched the 8-part movie series the same number of times. You see, the problem is that I didn’t know Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson or Rupert Grint from before. So, I could very easily imagine them as Harry, Hermione or Ron!
Mani Ratnam has taken liberties with altering the storylines, but then he was trying to keep audience glued to the seats. For example, the book does not talk of the war scenes of Aditya Karikalan but MR has gone to great lengths to showcase because he knows such action sequences similar to Spartacus or 300 or Braveheart will sell.
The story does not say that Karikalan had an inkling about the conspiracy to be etched in the fort of Kadambur and that was why he sent Vanthiathevan to find out. According to the novel, Vanbthiathevan happens to stumble upon that conspiracy purely by chance. Also, Karikalan does send messages for his father and his sister. In the movie, all these have been changed. But then Mani Ratnam himself says it is an adaptation of the novel.
The scene where the Chola ships land at the shores of Sri Lanka and the battle ensues is again not described in the book.
Without these scenes, how does he get to establish the macho images of the stars Vikram or Jayam Ravi or Karthi?
The song and dances sequences are purely Mani Ratnam trademarks and again are there to keep our audiences engaged. They only manage to prolong the length of the movie. If we as audiences can accept a Troy or a Braveheart or The Last Samurai without song and dance sequences, why can’t we accept it in our own movies? My hands were itching to locate the remote control in the cinema!
The interactions between Vanthiathevan and Alwarkkadiyan Nambi are full of humour and sarcasm in the book, but all that is missing in the movie. Alwarkkadiyan is a Thamizh speaking Vaishnava devotee who could spout beautiful Thamizh verses all while doing his job as a spy for the Chola Chief Minister. Except for the rotund shape, I could not accept Jayaram/ Alwarkkadiyan speaking Malayalam accented Thamizh. And to top it, his portrayal on screen looked more like a caricature of the original character.
Coming to the King Sundara Cholan… Kalki describes him as an invalid who is unable to walk due to some mysterious illness, but Mani Ratnam has taken some liberties with that, no issues! There’s this scene where he shows a Chinese physician poking needles on his back (acupuncture?). I think his idea was to tell the audience that Cholas were an empire that had relations with people from far lands.
A few of the dialogues like the scene (to name one of them) where Vanthiathevan meets Kunthavai in person for the first time and when she asks him who he was looking for and his response… the words in the book have been totally reproduced and I loved it.
My husband has never read the book, so he went there with a clean slate. Was he impressed? His answer was NO. He found there were too many characters, so the movie plot got convoluted. Can’t be helped buddy, that’s how the novel is. He preferred Bahubali to this because the plot was not convoluted and therefore crisp.
And on one point, I agree with him. One characteristic or trademark feature of Mani Ratnam movies is his love for darkness, the play of shadows. This movie is full of those too!
After all this long spiel, your question for me would be…
1. Should I go watch the movie?… I would say… Absolutely YES. It is a movie that should be watched not because you have or not have read the book, but because of the scale of production and the ensemble of stars on the screen.
2. Will you watch it again?… YES, when it is out on OTT only to do some more post mortem and see if my thoughts change.
3. Does it talk about Chola history?… NO! If you think Chola history is all about wars and fights and conspiracies, then you are wrong. There’s so much more to it. GO watch the movie and enjoy the experience!