What to expect from Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 2

Firstly, both Ponniyin Selvan aka Arulmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi) and Vallavarayan Vandhiyathevan (Karthi) went down, literally. After the epic clash between the two heroes and the Pandiyas on the ship in the middle of the sea, the vessel drowned taking the Chola prince and the Vaanar clan’s warrior along with it. Mani Ratnam is aware that it would be silly to pretend Ponniyin Selvan, the titular character, has died. So, with the trailer and the teasers, he was quite candid that Arulmozhi and Vandhiyathevan live. However, the cliffhanger was the mystery around the old woman who jumped into the ocean to save the two. The identity of Oomai Rani and her resemblance to Nandini is the real cliffhanger Mani left us with in the first part.

But, if you are someone, who has completely forgotten about what happened in Ponniyin Selvan 1. Here you go:

Set in the 10th Century, Ponniyin Selvan 1 opened with a narration by Kamal Haasan. The narrator gave an introduction about the threat the Chola empire is facing from within and outside the kingdom. With Sundara Cholar (Prakash Raj), the emperor of the Chola kingdom, struggling with illness, the chancellor Periya Pazhuvettarayar (Sarathkumar) and his young wife Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) plan to make their son-in-law Madhurandhagan (Rahman) the next king. Meanwhile, the prince of the Chola kingdom, Aditya Karikalan (Vikram), who has already been announced as the successor of the kingdom, is busy capturing more terrain. His younger brother Arulmozhi Varman aka Ponniyin Selvan (Jayam Ravi), obeying his father/King’s order, goes to Sri Lanka to capture the country and bring it under Chola’s rule. Sundara Cholar’s daughter, Kundhavai, is meanwhile in Palayaarai, one of the capitals of the Chola kingdom. In such a vulnerable time of the kingdom, a few assassins from Pandiya kingdom (another powerful empire in the South, which was won over by Cholas during the 10th century) infiltrate Chola Desam and they plan to kill Sundara Cholar and his sons.

The film starts with Aditya Karikalan sending his trusted friend Vandhiyathevan to the Kadambur fort to spy on suspected enemies. He is supposed to report all the gathered information to Kundhavai in Palayaarai and Sundara Cholar in Thanjavur. Thus begins the journey of Vandhiyathevan, from whose perspective we witness the story of Ponniyin Selvan unravel. He learns about the secret coup against Sundara Cholar by Periya Pazhuvettarayar and Nandini. He manages to get into the good books of Nandini and double-crosses her. He passes on the message to Sundara Cholar and in the process gets made by Chinna Pazhuvettarayar (Parthiban). He escapes from Thanjavur and reaches Palayaarai to let Kundhavai know about the impending danger. Love blossoms between the underdog hero and the princess of Chola Nadu. However, she orders Vandhiyathevan to travel across the ocean to Lanka and bring back Arulmozhi Varman. So, the Vaanar clan’s hero continues his journey.

Meanwhile, the Pandiyas also arrive in Lanka to kill Arulmozhi Varman. One such attempt is stopped by a mysterious old woman on an elephant. Ponniyin Selvan tells Vandhiyathevan that she is called Oomai Rani. It is not the first time the old woman has saved the prince. However, he doesn’t know anything else about the guardian angel. While Vandhiyathevan asks Arulmozhi to return to Palaiyaarai with him, a fleet of the Chola empire arrives to arrest and take back the prince! They have the order from the king himself. On top of that, Aditya Karikalan also sends his friend Parthibendran Pallavan (Vikram Prabhu) to take Arulmozhi to Kanchipuram. After a lot of dilemma, Arulmozhi decides to surrender himself to the Chola fleet as that’s the righteous decision. But things take an ugly turn when Pandiyas intervene and an epic battle between Pandiyas and Arulmozhi ensues.

What will happen next:

One of the biggest differences between the first part and the second is that the latter would lack lengthy songs. While Ponniyin Selvan 1 had five tracks with some brilliant visuals, Ponniyin Selvan 2 wouldn’t have time for all that. Mind you, the first part only covered one-third of the novel series, and Mani Ratnam has only three hours to wrap up a huge portion of the story. Though there will be songs, it would be featured in the background. Maybe, “Chinnanjiru Nilave” might be the only song, which would get visual sequences.

Another huge difference is the tempo of the sequences. If the first part looked a bit choppy, one can expect the same thing here as well at a faster pace. The good thing is the Sri Lanka chapter is over as Arulmozhi will find himself in Chola Nadu in the second part. One of the other criticism against the first part is that it lacked punch. With many potential theatre moments like the meeting of Nandini and Karikalan, the encounter of Sundara Cholar and Oomai Rani, and the unravelling of the mystery behind Madhurandhagan, hope the second part has more banger moments than the first.

Above all, it would be interesting to see how efficiently Mani Ratnam wraps up the epic and long tale of Ponniyin Selvan in just three hours.