Ponniyin Selvan First Look: Mani Ratnam's magnum opus first look poster is unveiled.

The first poster of Mani Ratnam’s upcoming film Ponniyin Selvan was released on January 2, confirming the film’s progress. The poster shows a sword with a golden hilt, bearing the tiger insignia, the Chola’s emblem along with the words 'Beginning of the golden era'. Behind it is a fiery streak in the pink skies.

Are you ready to witness the beginning of the golden era on the big screen? 👑⚔ #PonniyinSelvan
Shooting in progress 🎥#Kalki #ManiRatnam @LycaProductions @arrahman #RaviVarman @sreekar_prasad #ThottaTharani #Jeyamohan @ShamKaushal @ekalakhani @BrindhaGopal1 @bagapath pic.twitter.com/KNaQTX15Rb

— Madras Talkies (@MadrasTalkies_) January 2, 2020

Among the crew members listed is AR Rahman for music, Ravi Varman for cinematography, Sreekar Prasad for editing, Thotta Tharani for production design and writer Jeyamohan for dialogues. 

Sharing credits for screenplay along with Mani Ratnam is Kumaravel. Eka Lakhani will take care of costumes for this historical drama while Vikram Gaikwad is in charge of the makeup. Dance master Brinda has been roped in for choreography while Shyam Kaushal will take care of action direction. The film is being jointly produced by Mani Ratnam and Lyca’s Sudaskaran. Siva Ananth is the film’s executive producer.

Interestingly, the poster does not mention lyricist. Earlier, there were reports that Vairamuthu, who was accused of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement by singer Chinmayi and others, will be penning the lyrics for this film. While Mani Ratnam neither confirmed nor denied reports, Vairamuthu mentioned that he was doing the film in an interview. The news drew criticism from many. However, when the official announcement about Ponniyin Selvan was made in December, Vairamuthu was not present at the event, once again raising speculation that he may not be part of the project.

There were also news reports that he's been dropped from the film though Madras Talkies did not issue an official statement in this regard. 

The film is an ambitious project inspired by the classic novel Ponniyin Selvan. The book traces the life of the most popular among the Chozha kings, Raja Raja Chozhan I. Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amala Paul, Trisha, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Jyotika, among others have been roped in to star in this film.