Jayanth Kaikini: Relished every bit of writing the 7 songs of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan-1 in Kannada

Later today, the first single from filmmaker Mani Ratnam’s upcoming magnum-opus, Ponniyin Selvan will drop. The AR Rahman composition Ponni Nadhi, will be released at 6 pm today, with versions in Tanil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

The Kannada version, it turns out, has been written by noted award-winning writer and lyricist Jayanth Kaikini. One of the most popular lyricists in Kannada cinema for his ability to write poetic lyrics in pure Kannada, Kaikini is, in fact, credited with the lyrics of all seven of the Ponniyin Selvan songs. “Truly humbling moment for me, since I have been anonymous fan of Mani Ratnam and Rahman over the last few decades. I have penned seven songs in this mega film of theirs in the Kannada version. Each a distinctly flavoured composition. I relished every bit of writing the lyrics of the seven songs, the first of which will be on YouTube today. The rest will follow shortly,” he wrote, along with a note of gratitude to everyone who has stood by him through the years and supported his literary work. The Kannada version, sung by singer-composer Nakul Abhyankar, is also called Ponni Nadhi. The song’s tagline reads, ‘Celebrate the river festival with Vanthiyathevan’.

Directed and produced by Mani Ratnam, Ponniyin Selvan is based on the story of a historical novel of the same time, the story of which is centred on the conspiracy surrounding the Chola dynasty throne, set 1000 years ago. Chiyaan Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Prakash Raj, Parthiban, Arjun Chidambaram, Kishore, Sarath Kumar, Prabhu, Lal, Riyaz Khan, Jayaram, Vikram Prabhu, and Aishwarya Lekshmi will be seen in crucial roles in the film, which was initially planned as a single movie, but then split in two parts, the first of which will release on September 30.