Mani Ratnam directional Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 or PS: 1 is gearing up for a theatrical release on September 30, 2022. The film’s leading actor star Vikram speaks about the importance of history and why this film needs to be watched.
History of India
Mani Ratnam-directed PS: 1 is gearing up for a theatrical release on September 30, 2022, and over the weekend, the main star cast along with the film’s director and music composer AR Rahman were recently spotted in Mumbai promoting the film for the Hindi audience. During one of these events where Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Mani Ratnam, and AR Rahman were in attendance, a speech of actor Vikram’s boosting the Chola history for the unversed, caught the attention of many.
PS1 narrates the story of the 9th-century Dravidian empire of the Cholas and is centered around Raja Raja Chola I [ played by Jayam Ravi] and his family. Raja Raja Chola I is a respected Tamil King and Kalki Krishnamurthy’s novel on which PS1 is based. It is a fictional recreation of his real-life stories and incidents.
While addressing a press conference, Vikram explains what makes PS1 with its very evident Tamil roots, lucrative to a nonTamil audience.
He said, “When we were children, we heard stories about the past like Chandamma, Manuchitram and etc. All these stories are what we hear. We had such illustrations past, just a small thing I picked on is. We all talk about the pyramids and how could they have possibly built them and how did they it so many years ago. But do you know in India where we have so many temples one of the highest gopurams is in Tanjavur, which is where the Chola dynasty happened and Raja Raja Cholan built it. The top stone alone is a single monolithic stone that weighs 80 tonnes. And how did they do it? Do we know that?”
He added, “We either go to the pyramids or see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We are actually appreciating a building that doesn’t stand. It’s actually falling over and we go ‘wow let’s take a picture, let’s take a selfie’, we are getting excited. But we have temples today that stand and they didn’t use plaster. Without plaster, it (the Brihadeeswara temple built by Raja Raja Cholan aka Ponniyin Selvan) has withstood six earthquakes..”
80-ton monolithic ston
The PS: 1 actor then further explained how the 80-ton monolithic stone was placed atop such a tall height. He said, “These are all the facts we should know about. This particular King built 5000 damns in his time and he made a water management ministry at that time (10th century). He’s had elections, he’s asked leaders to name cities after women, he’s brought free hospitals, he used to give loans to help people give dignity instead of just throwing money all rarities during 985 CE to 1014 CE.”
The 56-year-old actor went on to explain why the history of Chola is not just illustrious but deserves celebration and appreciation by the whole of India. “We talk about superpowers today but in the 9th century (when the Cholas ruled) we had the biggest maritime navy in the world. And it has traveled all the way to Bali, to Malaysia, and we have sent them to China. Do you know what was the superpower doing then? America hadn’t been discovered by Columbus till 500 years later.”
Here’s the video:
