Ponniyin Selvan 2: Mani Ratnam can't thank SS Rajamouli enough for opening doors for his dream movie

Master filmmaker Mani Ratnam had no qualms to give credit to SS Rajamouli for showing the way to realise his long-nurtured dream project, Ponniyin Selvan.

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam at PS 2 pre-release event in Hyderabad.(Photo: Twitter/Vamsi Kaka)

Filmmaker Mani Ratnam expressed his gratitude for Telugu filmmaker SS Rajamouli at the grand pre-release event of his upcoming magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan 2. The event took place in Hyderabad on Monday evening with many leading names from the Telugu film industry in attendance.

And Ratnam, who is celebrated as the master filmmaker in Indian cinema, had no qualms to give credit to Rajamouli for showing the way to realise his long-nurtured dream.

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“I’d like to thank Subaskaran (producer) sir first. Sir, because of you, Ponniyin Selvan was possible. I’ve said this before and I’m saying this again. I want to thank Rajamouli. If Baahubali was not made. And not made in two parts. Ponniyin Selvan would not have been made. So we owe him a big thanks,” Ratnam said.

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“I’ve called him, met him and told him this. And I want to say here that it created the path for me to be able to mount Ponniyin Selvan in two parts. It gave confidence to the entire industry to do historical (projects) and he opened a huge passage for a lot of Indian history to be converted into films," he added.

Since last 1980, Ratnam tried several times to adapt the five-volume novel of Ponniyin Selvan for the big screen. The sheer size of the novel made remained a major challenge for the filmmaker. However, with the success of Baahubali 1 and 2, Ratnam gained the confidence to split the movie into two parts and finally make his dream movie a reality.

Ponniyin Selvan 1 was released in cinemas in September 2022 and it exceeded expectations at the box office. The movie grossed nearly Rs 500 crore in ticket sales and became the first Tamil movie to collect Rs 200 crore in Tamil Nadu alone. The members of the Tamil film fraternity are confident that Ponniyin Selvan 2 will become the first Tamil movie to cross the Rs 1000 crore mark at the box office .

Starring Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prakash Raj, Jayaram and Prabhu among others, PS 2 is due in cinemas worldwide on April 28.

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