Ponniyin Selvan.
It is an obsession that has followed me since the time I read the book when I was a teen. It is an obsession that continues till, and no doubt will continue till I live.
I first read Ponniyin Selvan right after my Class 10 exams. It is a five part historical fiction based on Chola king Raja Raja Cholan written by Kalki Krishnamurthy in the 1950s in Tamil. It was first serialised in the weekly Tamil magazine Kalki between 1950 and 1954. It was later published as five volumes in 1955.
As an impressionable kid of 15-16 years, the characters, story and brilliance of the Chola kingdom dazzled me. I finished the 2000-odd pages in about four days. I did not sleep and spared as little time as possible to eat and bathe. Every minute wasted is a minute I could have spent reading it.
One would think that this obsession, adulation over the book and its characters would fade over time. Like a good memory, I will look back and recall those intense moments and share it with friends, and my family’s younger generation. Like with Lord of the Rings. I loved the movie, and was awed by JRR Tolkein’s storytelling, one I hope to emulate some day.
But Ponniyin Selvan was like one’s first love. Time makes the memory stronger, glorified. It doesn’t fade away, rather it gets better with time. It’s bittersweet, but vivid and beautiful than what it actually was.
I am not exaggerating here. Recently I was talking to a friend and we ended up discussing Ponniyin Selvan-1. He shared how his wife, who read the book during her teens, swears by it. “She keeps saying how no other book would match the splendour, not Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones,” he said.
A couple of months back at a book club meeting, where Ponniyin Selvan was discussed, a retired executive spoke about how his wife read the book during her school days and is obsessed with the series. “It is probably because you read a book that is so magnificent at a young age. It is almost impossible to surpass those emotions,” he told me.
It is also generational. During the sixty years film makers had tried to bring Ponniyin Selvan on screen, it has been deified. It has become a benchmark for what a great novel should be, and everything else pales in comparison.
This is what director Mani Ratnam was up against. It’s an impossibility from the beginning.
Now, coming to the movie Ponniyin Selvan-1 or PS1 for short. Catching the movie has been a foregone conclusion for me. Before this I have seen three drama adaptations of the book in Chennai (I paid a bomb for each of these).
So I booked the tickets for the Sunday morning show, two days after the movie was released. Reviews looked promising and I tried as much as possible to watch the movie without prejudice.
I will have to admit, the movie was decent. It was different from the book. It had to be since condensing five volumes with a complex plot into two movies would be difficult.
I liked how the movie started, with Vikram emerging from the mist. It sets the tone for what is to come. The movie had more war scenes than the book, which I think was necessary to get the audience hooked. There was no rush and the second half of the movie fared much better than the first.
The best part, according to me, was the characterisation of Kundavai and Nandhini. I don’t remember Kundavai playing an active role in politics, like how she postponed the coronation of Madhurandagan by alluding to affiliate kings’ daughters becoming potential brides to Karikalan or Arunmozhi Varman.
Surprisingly, I did not think I was going to like the portrayal of Jayam Ravi as the title character, who was subtle, charming and at the same time powerful. But he played the character out beautifully.
Could Mani Ratnam have done better? Of course.
The movie doesn’t give the viewer a sense of anticipation. For instance, the tense scenes between Vallavarayan Vandiyadevan and Kundavai, could have been fleshed out. While Vanathi isn’t one of my favourite characters, a few scenes between her and Ponniyin Selvan, made me swoon. The developments from Kadambur Maligai in the beginning of the movie, where Madhurandagan makes an entry was a “wow” moment. That was missing as well. So that was a tad disappointing.
Characterisation keeps you wanting as well. The role of Azhwarkadi Nambi was one of the best. He is witty, has a great sense of humour and holds Chola kingdom’s deepest secrets. In the movie, he was reduced to a comical character without intellect. They might as well have dropped him.
The role of Aditya Karikalan wasn’t well-developed. Vikram was too old to play the role of prince, who yearns for his first love, and is torn between his love for her and of his kingdom. Unlike the book where characters left their imprints, the same cannot be said for the movie. It lacked certain depth needed to connect with the characters.
Despite these shortcomings, Mani Ratnam scores 10/10 for his efforts. Well, this was one series that eluded the movie industry for decades after all.
A journalist's diary 