25 days of Ponniyin Selvan-1: The Mani Ratnam adaptation is the first Tamil movie to gross over $6.5 million in the US

Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan-1 has been doing exceptionally well at the box office and completed 25 days of theatrical run. On Twitter, Lyca Productions posted a 31-second video of Mani Ratnam discussing how the movie Ponniyin Selvan became a reality.

“Any idea that keeps popping into your head suggests that you have a strong desire to achieve it. Therefore, when the chance came, it became feasible,” said the director.

Ponniyin Selvan is breaking box office records all over the world and is now the first Tamil film to gross more than $6.5 million in the United States of America. The film's stunning cinematography, spectacular acting, gripping plot, and superb soundtrack continue to garner praise from the audience.

The Mani Ratnam directorial surpassed actor Kamal Haasan's Vikram in the US and Australian markets to become the highest-grossing Tamil film in 2022, according to trade analyst Ramesh Bala.

Ponniyin Selvan-1 is playing in theatres in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam in both 2D and IMAX formats. Surprisingly, the movie continues to hold a substantial amount of screens in Tamil Nadu, where it has already made Rs 200 crore from ticket sales.

PS-1 has been drawing crowds in theatres, despite the occupancy of Sivakarthikeyan's Prince and Sardar by Karthi. For Diwali, both movies were released on October 21.

With a reported budget of close to Rs 500 crore, Mani Ratnam's two-part adaptation of the novel with a multi-star cast that was produced in five languages is one of the most costly Indian movies.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Chiyaan Vikram, Trisha, Jayam Ravi, and Karthi play the key characters. The technical team includes the director of photography Ravi Varman, editor Sreekar Prasad, and composer AR Rahman.

It's currently common to refer to Ponniyin Selvan, a historical novel set in the Chola dynasty, as the “Tamil Game of Thrones” because of its expansive narrative scope.

The novel had such a strong hold on Tamil culture that MG Ramachandran tried to adapt it for the big screen in 1958, and Kamal Haasan did the same in the early 1990s. Both initiatives failed. The enormity of the cost needed for an epic like Ponniyin Selvan simply could not be funded by the then-relatively small Tamil film market.

(PS-1 will stream on Amazon Prime Video soon)