In the movie The Father of the Bride, a man believes that his daughter is so precious that no man is worthy of her. When she picks a man to marry, he imagines every possible flaw in the prospective son-in-law. His worries get proven to be needless, one by one.
The movie Ponnyin Selvan reminded me of that father. On hearing of the plans for the movie, many Kalki fans - that includes me - were so anxious that we kept anticipating possible bad decisions in the cast, music, etc. I am glad that we were proven wrong on many of those counts.
I liked the movie. A lot. It blends political intrigue with action, sumptuous visuals and a touch of humour. The story moves at a breakneck pace, and the pace never slackens. Almost three hours fly by before you realize. This is no mean feat!
Someone called the movie a fictional recreation of Kalki’s fiction! That is largely accurate. Kalki took his time building his large cast of characters, and dreamt up beautiful ways for his characters to be introduced. The movie flits over those sequences due to time constraints. I had written earlier that Kalki fans would enjoy the movie better if they stopped looking for the movie to be an exact replica of the novel. That proved to be largely correct.
In my opinion, the movie stays loyal to the novel, with a few notable exceptions. Given the medium and the nature of the audience, some amount of creative license is reasonable. I’d say this movie has stayed truer to its novel form than some blockbusters of yesteryears, such as Malaikkallan and Thillana Mohanambal.
Casting: I had expressed reservations on Aishwarya Rai and Jayam Ravi being cast in their respective roles. I’m glad to have been proven wrong. Ravi has done a very good job of playing the dignified prince. I was worried about his voice. He seems to have adapted his voice well enough to the role. His diction is clear enough. Aishwarya fits Nandhini’s role very well. With some help of course - the cameraman has used dramatic lightning to highlight Nandhini’s bewitching presence. Trisha as Kundhavai does a reasonable job.
Karthi as Vandiyathevan works better than I expected. He seems just as playful and brave, but seems a bit more of a playboy than he was in the novel. Vikram is brilliant as an angry, disappointed, brave and remorseful Aditha Karikalan.
Parthiban (Chinna Pazhuvettaraiyar), Aishwarya Lekshmi (Poonkuzhali), Jayaram (Azhvarkadiyan), Rehman (Madhuranthaka Chozhan) and Prabhu (Kodumbalur Velalar) do perfect justice to their role. Shobita Dhulipala (Vanathi) doesn't have much to do in this movie.
The crew is said to have made a conscious decision to not make the language too dramatic. It was a bit odd to listen to simplified Tamil in a historical movie, but I got used to it. Tamil diction is a problem in the movie. Surprisingly, the offenders were not the ones I had in the suspects list. Prakash Raj is consistently bad. (He does not pronounce “Chozha” right even once). Sarath Kumar and Vikram Prabhu botch their lines often as well. Trisha's diction is very good. Actually, it seemed too good to be true. Was there a voice artist involved?
Anirudha Brahmarayar’s character (the Chief Minister of the Emperor) has been reduced to a caricature. Mohan Ram does a reasonable job in the limited role.
Visual appeal is a great plus. The long shots of the forts seemed to have been generated through computer graphics, but thankfully they are not overused. The indoor sets are tastefully done.
New Viewers: While this movie works well for folks who have read the novel, how well will someone who hasn’t read the story follow the relationships between the characters? The historical setting gets fed to the viewer through a firehose in the first few minutes. Retention may be an issue with unfamiliar viewers. This should not be an issue with the Amazon Prime version, with the ability to rewind, x-ray, subtitle, etc.
Overall, the music was a letdown. A couple of songs were pleasant enough. I like ‘Rakshasa mamane’. Shreya Goshal’s sangatis are breathtaking. The song is filmed well. Alai Kadal is a mellifluous tune. But the problem is that none of that fit the era of the movie. Re-recording score is also way too modern. You can hear the piano in a couple of key scenes. I found all that anachronistic.
Geographic Errors:. The Thanjavur fort seems to be built on an uneven, hilly terrain. The river Kaveri near Pazhaiyarai looks as wide as it might be, say, near Srirangapatnam. The ‘Ponni Nadi’ song refers to riding past ‘Karisal’ (Black, mineral-filled earth) while the hero is riding from a rocky terrain to the fertile Kaveri delta.
Quirks and questions:
Why does the Chozha Emperor undergo Acupuncture treatment? It seems a far-fetched scene to show the international connections the Chozhas had!
Why is the charioteer in Sri Lanka East Asian? I guess it was possible, but it just looks odd.
Why would the Kodumbalur princess dance with the street artistes? Shortage of dancers?
The quip about Azhvarkadiyan’s people co-opting Buddha seems out of place; perhaps an attempt to court controversy?
As if the movie needs to make an attempt to generate controversies!
These are minor flaws. Despite these, it's definitely worth a watch. Or two. This is the grandest movie I’ve watched in Tamil. Mani Rathnam has kept an idea for decades and brought it to fruition. It was no mean feat to gather a crew this large and have them execute towards a common goal. No one other than Mani could have pulled it off.
My older articles on the subject:
Ponniyin Selvan, the movie: when the movie was announced (2019).
Picturizing Ponniyin Selvan: my preview of the movie (2022)
Is a picture worth a thousand words?: Challenges of the the movie (2022).
My English translation of Parthiban Kanavu, another Kalki classic.
