Ponniyin Selvan 1 posters: Meet Karthi as swashbuckling gladiator Vanthiyathevan in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus

Vanthiyathevan rides a war horse named Semban. “With all your blessings bringing to you #Vanthiyathevan and #Semban (the horse),” tweeted Karthi.

Ponniyin Selvan is director Mani Ratnam’s most ambitious movie yet. It is being mounted on a lavish scale with an all-star cast. Besides Karthi, the movie also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Jayaram Ravi, Trisha, Asihwariya Lekshmi, Sobhita, Sarath Kumar, Parthiban, Lal, Jayaram, Prabhu, Kishore, Riyaz Khan among others.

With all your blessings bringing to you #Vanthiyathevan and #Semban (the horse). #PS1🗡 @madrastalkies_ @LycaProductions #ManiRatnam#Vikram @actor_jayamravi #AishwaryaRaiBachchan @trishtrashers #AishwaryaLekshmi @iamvikramprabhu @arrahman @dop_ravivarman pic.twitter.com/2yWdK9zwDh

— Actor Karthi (@Karthi_Offl) July 5, 2022

The Prince without a kingdom, the spy, the swashbuckling adventurer…here comes Vanthiyathevan! #PS1 🗡 @LycaProductions #ManiRatnam pic.twitter.com/Lrcnonb2B2

— Madras Talkies (@MadrasTalkies_) July 5, 2022

The movie is based on the epic period novel written by iconic writer Kalki Krishnamurthy. The five-volume novel Ponniyin Selvan narrates the story of Arulmozhi Varman, who eventually became Rajaraja Chola I. The king built the beautiful Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur, one of the largest temples in India. It is said that a major part of the film’s budget was used to recreate majestic temples built during the period as film shootings are not allowed inside historically relevant temples in Tamil Nadu.

Oscar winner AR Rahman is scoring the music for the two-part epic. And the film will release in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. The first part of the epic saga is due to arrive in cinemas on September 30.