PONNIYIN SELVAN: PART I: A Fun And Brisk Epic
I’m always confounded by the level of great literature that has come out of India that goes completely unutilized by filmmakers and screenwriters. Most of them are just rehashing The Mahabharata a thousand times (boring), or worse, adapting from modern mediocrities like Chetan Bhagat. If you take a look at some of Indian cinema’s great films, more than a few stellar classics also come from adapting stellar novels. Vijay Anand’s masterpiece Guide (1965) is an adaptation of an R.K. Narayan novel, Satyajit Ray made a whole career out of adapting Rabindranath Tagore, and Govind Nihalani turned Bisham Sahni’s monumental work “Tamas” on the 1947 Partition into an epic mini-series. Few notable adaptations of Indian literary works are sprouting today and if they are, they are mostly coming from South Indian cinema – like Jayaraj’s Bhayanakam (2018) from Takazhy Pillai’s 1978 novel, or Lijo Jose Pellisserry’s Jallikatu (2019) from S. Hareesh’s short story “Maoist”.
An Epic Adaptation
Luckily, Mani Ratnam is here to deliver one of the most accomplished and enjoyable Indian literary adaptations of the 21st century. Ratnam isn’t known for adapting great works either – his last explicitly adapted screenplay was for Kannathil Muthamital (2002), based on the short story “Amuthavum Avanum” by the prolific author and poet Sujatha – but with the recent popularity of larger-than-life epics that dig through India’s historical past for myths and legends, it seems destined for Ratnam to be the one to finally adapt Kalki Krishnamurthy‘s Ponniyin Selvan (English: The Son of Ponni), a classic of Tamil literature that filmmakers have been attempting to adapt since 1958, with little success.
A historical fiction story, it takes place in the very real Chola Kingdom of the 10th and 11th century South India, where two brothers – Aditha (Vikram) and Arunmozhi (Jayan Ravi) – are on war campaigns. Several conspirators in the empire, including the Chief Finance Minister, are planning on putting Arunmozhi’s (the titular Ponniyin Selvan) rightful ascendance to the throne of his father under threat by installing his uncle Madurantaka Chola on it instead. A sarcastic messenger and warrior named Vallavariyan (Karthi) goes through enemy lines and must deliver the message of the conspiracy to Ponniyin Selvan. In his hijinks, the story finds room for fun chases, dance sequences, and romance.
War & Politics
Ponniyin Selvan isn’t treated as a self-serious epic. A light airy touch by Ratnam keeps the story moving at a brisk pace. He treats the three distinct moving parts of the story with their own appropriate genre-bend. In Aditha’s storyline, it’s a real war film, with brutal violence, tragedy, and betrayals. Arunmozhi’s storyline is a prestige drama, and Vallavariyan’s storyline is a musical-romantic comedy. Karthi is fantastic in the role of Vallavariyan, the film’s best performance, and he seamlessly transitions between his character’s clownish teasing and the serious warrior-like spirit.
Ratnam’s silhouettes and lighting are stunning and Ravi Varman’s camera shoots often from a bird’s eye view establishing a classic painterly portrait of power dynamics in the kingdom within a single frame. One of the most beautiful sequences is the introduction of Nandini, played by Aishwarya Rai. The shot is an overhead of her lounging in her regal chair surrounded by her servants. The pink, gold, and green hues and shadows reflect both the beauty and deception that lies within her. Rai likewise, who Ratnam knows how to utilize better than any director (see Iruvar, Guru, and Raavanan), gives a regal and coyish performance that perfectly encapsulates Nandini’s ulterior motives to exerting her power as queen.
Conclusion:
While the action sequences in the film are often clunky and awkwardly edited and don’t come to quite the level of other productions, particularly those of S.S. Rajamoulli, Ratnam still manages to pave over the lively war sequences with sweeping pans and keeps them to a minimum in the runtime. His strength lies in the choreography of politics – the sabotage, betrayals, and conspirations of the various parties in the film. He ties these threads together perfectly and weaves through the characters intertwining relationships with a keen eye for detail. Ponniyin Selvan: Part I is fun and brisk, setting a higher standard for Indian literary adaptations.
Ponniyin Selvan was released in select U.S. theaters on September 30th, 2022
Watch Ponniyin Selvan: I
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