Ponniyin Selvan: Part I

Year: 2022

Actors: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kishore Kumar G., Vikram, Jayam Ravi

Duration: 167 min

The story revolves around Vandiyadevan, a charming, brave and a brilliant young man who sets out to the Chola land to deliver a message to the King and the Princess from the Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan. The story shuttles between Vandiyadevan's travels in Chola country and the young Prince Arulmozhi Varman's travels in Sri Lanka. The narrative deals with attempts by his sister Kundavai to bring back Arulmozhi Varman to establish political peace in a land seemingly getting besot with unrest and signs of civil war, plotted by vassals and petty chieftains.Parantaka Chola was succeeded by his second son Gandaraditya as the first son Rajaditya had died in a battle. At the time of Gandaraditya's death, his son Maduranthaka was a two-year-old child and hence Gandaraditya's brother Arinjaya ascended the throne. After Arinjaya's death, his son Parantaka II (Sundara Chola) was crowned. He had two sons, Aditya Karikalan and daughter Kundavai and the younger son Arulmozhi Varman, the later known Rajaraja.When the story starts, the emperor Sundara Chola is ill and bedridden. Aditya Karikalan is the general of the Northern Command and lived in Kanchi and Arulmozhi Varman (who would be famous later as Raja Raja Chola I) is in Sri Lanka in battle and their sister Kundavai Piratti lived in Chola royal household at Pazhayarai.The story is set in motion, when rumor starts that there is a conspiracy against Sundara Chola and his sons. One person who gets a glimpse of the Pandya conspirators is a warrior the Vandiyathevan at the palace of his friend Kandhanmaaran.It is through Vandiyacevan that we meet most of the characters in the novel such as Arulmozhi Varman, the prince whom all the people loved, and Periya Pazhavetturayar, the chancellor who married Nandhini (the main conspirator), when he was sixty. During his youth, Aditya Karikalan had fallen in love with Nandhini, but she turned vengeful after Aditya Karikalan killed Veerapandiyan (who was probably her lover. It was a confusion which revolves in the story, some says it was her father.) and vowed to destroy the Chola dynasty. We also meet Kundavai Devi, who after hearing the news of the conspiracy sends Vandiyadevan to Sri Lanka to give a message to Arulmozhi Varman to come back immediately.Besides these, there are other characters like Madurantakar (the man whom the conspirators want to crown king), the son of Gandaraditya and Aniruddha Brahmarayar, Sundara Chola's Prime Minister and the man who has eyes and ears everywhere. But the most wonderful character in the book is Brahmarayar's spy Azhwarkadiyan Nambi, a who roams around the country challenging for debates. He collects information for the Prime Minister and is always around Vandiyadevan, rescuing him during trouble.There are some lovely and adorable women too, like Vaanathi, Kodumbalur princess (the woman who becomes Arulmozhi's wife later) who is in love with Arulmozhi; Poonkuzhali, the boat woman who rows the future king to Lanka; Mandakini, the deaf and dumb step mother of the original Madurantakar Chola and the aunt of Poonguzhali. Most memorable among these is Nandhini, whose beauty is said to have the power to influence any man. Manimegalai, the sister of Kandhanmaaran (the Kadamboor prince) who helps Nandini without any knowledge that she herself is the conspirator and also he turns against Vandiyadevan, his best friend.In the meanwhile, with Poonguzhali's help, Vandiyadevan reaches Sri Lanka, meets Arulmozhi Varman, and becomes his close friend. In Lanka, Arulmozhi Varman realizes that his father had spent some time in an island near Lanka and had been with a girl born deaf and dumb. He meets her and realizes from her drawing that she and his father have had two children. Who are those children and do they have the right to the throne? Later one day in Thirupurambayam forest Vandiyadevan sees Nandhini and the Pandya conspirators place a small boy on a throne and take a vow in front of him. Who is this boy and what right does he have to the throne?While coming back from Lanka, Arulmozhi Varman is caught in a cyclone and goes missing. Rumor spreads that he is dead, but he survives and stays at Choodamani Viharam, a Buddhist monastery in. Then slowly the dispersed family starts assembling. The conspirators meanwhile choose one day in which both the king and both of his sons would be assassinated.Nandhini in the meantime calls Aditya Karikalan to Kadambur Palace to discuss about the future of kingdom. Though Karikalan knows that his life is in utter danger, he goes to Kadambur palace. Despite warning from his grandfather, Aditya Karikalan was then assassinated there.Meanwhile, Arulmozhi Varman recovers and returns to Tanjore, where he was forced to crown and he accepts to get the crown initially. Later, he tricks everyone and crowns to his uncle Uthama Chola.

Genre: Action   Adventure   Drama