Aishwarya Rai Not The First Choice For Ponniyin Selvan, Reveals Mani Ratnam

There is a major hype going on over director Mani Ratnam's upcoming magnum opus, and dream project, Ponniyin Selvan. The film is gearing up for a world -wide theatrical release on September 30. The film's trailer launched a couple of days ago has also set the expectations high not just because of the production values, but with the stellar cast that Mani Ratnam has chosen very carefully for each character in the historic epic.

Chiyaan Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,Jayam Ravi,  Karthi, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Sobhita Dhulipala, Prabhu, R Sarathkumar, Vikram Prabhu, Prakash Raj, Rahman, and R Parthiban are part of the film.The film crew is busy as part of the pre-release events, and interviews. Mani Ratnam shared several details about his project which he wanted to make in 1994 and in 2011. While talking about about the casting of the film,he said that he wanted to cast Kamal Haasan in the film, but that also did not take off.

When he was asked if he had anyone in mind for the role played by Aishwarya Rai, the filmmaker revealed that the first actor that came to mind for Nandini's character was a veteran actress - Rekha. “Before Aishwarya, I wanted to work with Rekha for the same character. Didn’t have any other actors in mind for this role,” he revealed.

Rekha as Vasanta Sena in Utsav

Aishwarya Rai is playing a double role in Ponniyin Selvan-1 as- Nandini and Mandakini Devi.  The story of Ponniyin Selvan- is about the early days of Arunmozhi Varman, who went on to become the great emperor of the Chola dynasty, known as Rajaraja Chola 1. The film was shot extensively on specially erected huge sets at film cities in Hyderabad and Chennai and in Thailand where they shot war sequences for the film.

Also Read: Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan I OTT Rights Sold For A Fancy Price