Actor Jayam Ravi says he felt strain entering into the function of the Chola king Rajaraja I in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan-I and relied closely on the ace director’s imaginative and prescient.
An official adaptation of creator Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 Tamil novel of the identical identify, the movie made its debut in theatres on Friday to reward from each the audiences and the critics. The story follows the early days of Arulmozhivarman (Ravi), some of the highly effective kings within the south who went on to grow to be the good Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I within the tenth century.
For Ravi, the star of Tamil motion pictures M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, Unakkum Enakkum, Santhosh Subramaniam, Tik Tik Tik and Thani Oruvan, it was a lifelong dream to work with Ratnam.
“Earlier than performing in his movie, I studied and realized from him. Now after performing in his film, I realized from him immediately. So it’s a blessing for me,” the 42-year-old actor instructed PTI in an interview.
Rajaraja I, who dominated the Chola empire within the tenth century, stays near folks’s hearts, particularly within the South, and taking part in such a well-liked determine made Ravi nervous.
“I used to be taking part in the good Rajaraja Chola and all people in South India regarded as much as him. For all of the Tamil-speaking folks, he’s their king. I’m only a fortunate actor who will get to play this half.
“As a fan of Rajaraja Chola, while you take a look at the issues that he has achieved, no one’s ever achieved it within the final thousand years. In order that strain was clearly there, however Mani sir made me realise the significance of taking part in this character,” the actor mentioned.
Ravi mentioned the filmmaker made him perceive the intricacies of the Chola king.
“He instructed me six months earlier than the shoot that I ought to attempt to visualise and reside like Rajaraja Chola. I did attempt that and it actually helped,” he added.
Whereas collaborating with Ratnam, the actor mentioned he felt like a younger boy on a journey with a mentor.
“The expertise was at all times like he’s holding my hand as if I’m a younger boy and he’s taking me on a journey. Each time he felt I used to be deviating from the trail, he would maintain my hand strongly. And he would loosen the grip, I’m strolling ahead on the trail. So it was a ravishing expertise to work with him for the primary time,” the actor mentioned.
Ravi was the one one working for the primary time with Ratnam because the forged is crammed with the director’s previous collaborators — Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
However the actor mentioned he by no means felt like “an outsider”.
“Mani sir by no means makes you’re feeling like an outsider. And whereas engaged on this film, I met among the sweetest folks of my life. I’ve labored with Trisha earlier than, and Vikram is like my brother. Karthi and I’ve grow to be brothers now. That’s the bond we now have,” he added.
An actor at all times loves a problem and for Ravi, he’s glad that it got here within the type of “Ponniyin Selvan”.
“A historic movie is likely one of the greatest challenges. You haven’t any sense of how folks lived and behaved previously. After which you’ve CGI and you must act as in case you are seeing one thing great and nice within the body.
“So I like challenges and that is the perfect problem I ever obtained,” the actor mentioned.
Ponniyin Selvan is backed by Ratnam’s manufacturing home Madras Talkies and Allirajah Subaskaran’s banner Lyca Productions. Music maestro AR Rahman has given the music with cinematography by Ravi Varman.
The movie has been launched in 5 languages — Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.