Jayam Ravi on Ponniyin Selvan: Mani Ratnam made me realise significance of enjoying Rajaraja Chola

Actor Jayam Ravi says he felt stress getting into the position of the Chola king Rajaraja I in Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan-I and relied closely on the ace director’s imaginative and prescient.

An official adaptation of creator Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 Tamil novel of the identical title, the movie made its debut in theatres on Friday to reward from each the audiences and the critics. The story follows the early days of Arulmozhivarman (Ravi), one of the vital highly effective kings within the south who went on to develop into the good Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I within the tenth century.

For Ravi, the star of Tamil films M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi, Unakkum Enakkum, Santhosh Subramaniam, Tik Tik Tik and Thani Oruvan, it was a lifelong dream to work with Ratnam.

“Before acting in his film, I studied and learned from him. Now after acting in his movie, I learned from him directly. So it’s a blessing for me,” the 42-year-old actor informed PTI in an interview.

Rajaraja I, who dominated the Chola empire within the tenth century, stays near individuals’s hearts, particularly within the South, and enjoying such a preferred determine made Ravi nervous.

“I used to be enjoying the good Rajaraja Chola and everyone in South India regarded as much as him. For all of the Tamil-speaking individuals, he’s their king. I’m only a fortunate actor who will get to play this half.

“As a fan of Rajaraja Chola, when you look at the things that he has done, nobody’s ever done it in the last thousand years. So that pressure was obviously there, but Mani sir made me realise the importance of playing this character,” the actor stated.

Ravi stated the filmmaker made him perceive the intricacies of the Chola king.

“He told me six months before the shoot that I should try to visualise and live like Rajaraja Chola. I did try that and it really helped,” he added.

While collaborating with Ratnam, the actor stated he felt like a younger boy on a journey with a mentor.

“The experience was always like he’s holding my hand as if I’m a young boy and he’s taking me on a journey. Whenever he felt I was deviating from the path, he would hold my hand strongly. And he would loosen the grip, I’m walking forward on the path. So it was a beautiful experience to work with him for the first time,” the actor stated.

Ravi was the one one working for the primary time with Ratnam because the solid is crammed with the director’s previous collaborators — Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

But the actor stated he by no means felt like “an outsider”.

“Mani sir never makes you feel like an outsider. And while working on this movie, I met some of the sweetest people of my life. I’ve worked with Trisha before, and Vikram is like my brother. Karthi and I have become brothers now. That’s the bond we have,” he added.

An actor at all times loves a problem and for Ravi, he’s glad that it got here within the type of “Ponniyin Selvan”.

“A historic movie is among the greatest challenges. You haven’t any sense of how individuals lived and behaved up to now. And then you will have CGI and it’s a must to act as in case you are seeing one thing great and nice within the body.

“So I love challenges and this is the best challenge I ever got,” the actor stated.

Ponniyin Selvan is backed by Ratnam’s manufacturing home Madras Talkies and Allirajah Subaskaran’s banner Lyca Productions. Music maestro AR Rahman has given the music with cinematography by Ravi Varman.

The movie has been launched in 5 languages — Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.