Ponniyin Selvan-1 box office: The Mani Ratnam film gets close to making Rs 500 crore worldwide

With almost Rs 225 crore in gross receipts, Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan-1 is currently the highest-grossing Tamil movie in Tamil Nadu. The multi-starrer is showing at theatres, across the state, as its fourth week of distribution draws to a close. According to trade analysts, more screens have been added for the movie on Friday. Ponniyin Selvan-1 has made over Rs 480 crore globally and will reach the Rs 500 crore club soon.

Following the release of several movies under their early access movie rental plan, including KGF: Chapter 2, 777 Charlie, Sarkaru Vaari Paata, and Runway 34, Prime Video announced the release of the Mani Ratnam-directed film.

Beginning on October 28, viewers can rent Ponniyin Selvan through Movie Rentals on Prime Video for Rs 129 in four languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. The film will be available to stream for everyone from November 4.

The historical drama tells the story of the Chola dynasty and focuses on the imperial power struggles that are taking place as Emperor Sundara Chola's health deteriorates.

Ponniyin Selvan-1 was Mani Ratnam's most ambitious film to date, he acknowledged in an interview. He recalled reading it for the first time in school.

“I have wanted to make a movie based on this book for a very long time. A massive five-part work by Kalki, a superb storyteller, is close to 2000 pages long. History and fiction are expertly blended in this work of exceptional brilliance. There are a lot of fascinating facts about the Chola dynasty, its leaders, their accomplishments, and its history, but none of them seems forced,” he was quoted as saying.

Mani Ratnam added he was amazed at the amount of research Kalki had put in. “I had the impression of seeing a big-screen movie after reading this. It seems as though Kalki is sitting there and telling this story just for you since he tells it so vividly. Ponniyin Selvan hence struck me as a substantial feature picture even before I considered becoming a filmmaker.”

Bankrolled by Lyca Productions and Mani Ratnam, Ponniyin Selvan-1, stars Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha Krishnan, Prakash Raj, Sarath Kumar, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi in pivotal roles.