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A historical fiction

Ponniyin Selvan Part 1(பொன்னியின் செல்வன், Tamil; 2022)
Director: Mani Ratnam

Kalki first published these fictionalised historical stories back in the 1950s in a weekly magazine. The stories were penned by Kalki Subramaniam and printed in Kalki magazine in Chennai. These stories were hugely popular and had developed a cult following. People were fascinated with the vivid narration and witty dialogue. The publication's readership at one time was 71,366 - a formidable number in newly independent India. Kalki Subramaniam had been a freedom fighter.

As early as the late 50s, attempts have been made to make a movie of Kalki's 'Ponniyin Selvan'. MG Ramachandran bought the rights to the story but failed due to financial constraints. Mani Ratnam attempted it in the 1980s and 2010s but failed again. After the delays posed by the pandemic, it finally hit the silver screens in 2022. 

Now, this film is said to be the fourth highest-grossing Tamil movie of all time, and people are singing praises of the movie. A blog reader watched it and said she did not quite understand the story. As I expected, the characters were too many, and the names were too mind-bending for an average occasional Tamil speaker and non-speaker to register. The dialogue can be considered too courteous for general consumption, as most Tamil movie dialogues are crude and rude. There were clearly no comedic actors to crack mindless slapstick and jokes. Again, this is another essential ingredient for a wholesome Indian picture where the audience will find money's worth. In PS-1, the dialogue is witty, and the comedic component is packaged in wordplay. I wonder if any Malaysian audiences who watched the movie with me in the cinema read the innuendos between the lines.

I have to confess that when a 13-year-old me watched 'Star Wars' when everyone else was singing praises of it, I too agreed with them. In reality, I could not understand the whole storyline, but not to appear dumb, I followed the herd. 


Maybe, because this movie is promoting nationalism at a time when the whole world becoming less tolerant of each other, it plucks the heartstrings of many. That was precisely the intention of Kalki Subramaniam, an Indian freedom fighter when he penned the series of stories. Kalki would have been very proud of his work as it is portrayed on the silver screen.

The cinematography and the special effects are of high quality, way above what is generally seen in most Indian movies. The artwork involving adventures (or rather misadventures) on the high seas was almost reminiscent of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean series. 

Ponniyin Selvan 1 is a historical fiction of the life of times of young Arunmozhi Varman in the 10th century CE before he became the great Chola Emperor Raja Raja Cholan. He was referred to as 'Ponniyin Selvan' - the son of Ponni. Ponni is the other name for the River Kaveri. Legend has it that the spirit of the River had saved Arunmozhi from drowning, hence the nickname. 

As in politics then and now, frequent backstabbing and doublecrossing were going on to usurp power. In that climate, brothers Aditha Karkalan and Arunmozhi Varman have to stand tall, fight the schemers and protect the throne in a series of swashbuckling adventures and death-defying moments.

Sure, the history of Man was never peaceful. At no time were Man cordial with his neighbours. They found ingenious ways to differentiate one from another. I could not help but notice that the scriptwriters purposely tried to suggest animosity between Shaivites (Shiva worshippers) and Vaishvanites (Vishnu worshippers). But I always thought that in ancient India (and now), heterogenicity was embraced. It remains the only land that was not hostile towards Jews and accepted Zoroastrian refugees when Islamic invaders chased them away from Persia. There are even Chinatowns in India.


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