First look: Mani Ratnam unveils poster of Ponniyin Selvan, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Chennai, January 2: The first poster of Mani Ratnam’s upcoming film Ponniyin Selvan has been released.

The poster shows a sword with a golden hilt, bearing the tiger insignia, the Chola’s emblem, along with the words 'Beginning of the golden era'. 

In the background, a fiery streak is seen in the pink skies.

Among the crew members are AR Rahman for music, Ravi Varman for cinematography, Sreekar Prasad for editing, Thotta Tharani for production design and writer Jeyamohan for dialogues.

Sharing the screenplay credits along with Mani Ratnam is Kumaravel. 

Eka Lakhani is in-charge of costumes for the historical drama while Vikram Gaikwad will oversee the make-up. 

Dance master Brinda has been roped in for choreography while Sham Kaushal will take care of action direction. 

The film is being jointly produced by Mani Ratnam and Lyca’s Sudaskaran. 

Siva Ananth is the film’s executive producer.

Interestingly, the poster does not mention any credit for a lyricist. 

Earlier reports spoke of Vairamuthu, who faced sexual harassment accusations in the #MeToo scandal by singer Chinmayi and others, as the lyricist for this film. 

While Mani Ratnam neither confirmed nor denied reports, Vairamuthu has been quoted as saying that he will be working on the film. 

There were also reports of him being dropped from the film, although no official statement was released in this regard by Madras Talkies.

Are you ready to witness the beginning of the golden era on the big screen? ⚔ #PonniyinSelvan
Shooting in progress #Kalki #ManiRatnam @LycaProductions @arrahman #RaviVarman @sreekar_prasad #ThottaTharani #Jeyamohan @ShamKaushal @ekalakhani @BrindhaGopal1 @bagapath pic.twitter.com/KNaQTX15Rb

— Madras Talkies (@MadrasTalkies_) January 2, 2020

The film is statedly inspired by the classic novel, Ponniyin Selvan. 

The book traces the life of the most popular among the Chozha kings, Raja Raja Chozhan I. 

Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amala Paul, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Jyotika, among others will star in this film.

Mani Ratnam is said to have finalised locations in Tamil Nadu and Thailand, where most of the shooting is scheduled to happen.