Ponniyin Selvan team gives a glimpse of the life of Raja Raja Chozhan in this video

The team of Mani Ratnam's ambitious project, Ponniyin Selvan, today shared a video that gives a glimpse of the life of Raja Raja Chozhan, the popular Chola King. The film is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's epic historical novel, Ponniyin Selvan, which revolves around the early days of Arunmozhi Varman, who later went on to become Raja Raja Chozhan. The video dropped by Mani Ratnam's team, gives us a peek into the life of the early days of Raja Raja Chozhan and the research done by the team.

Giving us an introduction to Raja Raja Chozhan, S Jayakumar, a researcher on cultural history, tells us in the video, " Arunmozhi Varman was the younger son of the Chola king, Sundara Cholar, who was also known as Parantaka II. When we cross checked if his name was Arulmozhi or Arunmozhi, the inscriptions from the Chola period revealed it as Arunmozhi. When he becomes the king of the Chola empire, he is conferred the title Raja Raja Chozhan."

Echoing his thoughts is historian S Ramachandran, " Arunmozhi Perumal or Arunmozhi Varman is his real name. An inscription in Sri Lanka cites it as Perumagan (king), which over a period of time becomes Parmuga, Parmaha, Parma and Varma. So, Perumagan must have changed to Peruma or Perumal."

Talking about how Arunmozhi Varman gave up his throne, S Ramachandran says, "We got a few references from Raja Raja Chozhan's copper inscriptions. For instance, when he got to know that his uncle Uthama Cholan's had the desire to become ruler of the land, Arunmozhi Varman allows his uncle to rule for around 10-12 years." 

Orator Bharathy Basker adds, "Ponniyin Selvan alias Raja Raja Chozhan alias Arunmozhi Varman arrived there. One more step and he could take the throne. When he realises that it was not his turn, but someone else's, he steps away and gives up the throne to him. This was my takeaway. This is history. We have references regarding it. A king who lived on this land has done this." She added that Kalki, the novelist, got his references through Neelakanda Shastri, a researcher and that Ponniyin Selvan was based on those notes. 

The film has an ensemble cast including Vikram, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha to name a few. Music for the film is by AR Rahman. Cinematography is by Ravi Varman and editing is by Sreekar Prasad. The film will hit screens on September 30.