Lyca Productions and Madras Talkies on Friday released the first look of actor Jayam Ravi as the great Chola king, Raja Raja Cholan from director Mani Ratnam’s eagerly awaited magnum opus, Ponniyin Selvan.

Lyca Productions and Madras Talkies, which are jointly producing the film, tweeted the first look poster of Jayam Ravi and wrote, “Hail the Visionary Prince, the Architect of Golden Era, the Great Raja Raja Chola... introducing Ponniyin Selvan (sic)!”

The makers have already released the first look posters of Vikram as Aditya Karikalan, Karthi as Vanthiyathevan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as queen Nandini and Trisha as princess Kundavai from the film that is being made on a lavish scale.

The teaser of the film is set to be launched on Friday evening at 6 PM, the production houses announced.

The film’s first part, which is releasing on September 30 this year, will release in five languages — Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

The film is based on the classic Tamil novel Ponniyin Selvan by eminent writer Kalki Krishnamurthy, which narrates the life of Raja Raja Chola I. The film, called by Mani Ratnam as his dream project, will be among the most expensive projects ever undertaken in the country with a reported budget of ₹500 crore. It stars an ensemble cast of popular actors including Vikram, Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram Prabhu, and Prakash Raj.

The film has the best in business handling each of its departments. AR Rahman is scoring the music for this epic historical and the cinematography is by Ravi Varman. National Award-winning art director Thotta Tharani is in charge of production design while Mani Ratnam's trusted editor Sreekar Prasad is handling its editing.

Also read | Aishwarya Rai Bachchan dazzles in this Chola Era jewellery in Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan-I