Team Ponniyin Selvan releases a promo video featuring leading historians stressing the significance of Chola dynasty

The teaser of Mani Ratnam's multi-starrer flick Ponniyin Selvan was released a week ago, and the event was attended by a few actors who play pivotal roles in the movie. The big-budget film, starring Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Karthi and Jayam Ravi in lead roles, is slated for a theatrical release on September 30 in five languages.

The team has now unveiled a video in which a few leading historians are seen talking about the significance of the Chola dynasty, which is regarded as one of the world's longest lasting empires. The film's story is set in the ninth century and is based on the novel of the same name penned by Kalki Krishnamurthy.

The one-and-a-half minute video begins with veteran historian S Ramachandran providing insight on Tanjore being made as the capital by Vijayalaya Chola in 848 CE. According to writer S Ramakrishnan, it became an empire during the reign of Raja Raja Chola. His son Rajendran extended territory by invading South East Asia.

S Jayakumar, researcher on cultural history, explained how the Chola empire resorted to the Navy to bring kings of other areas under their control. He also touched upon the significance of Nagapattinam as a trade route and briefed on how it became an international spot in those times.

The reasons for which the Chola period is considered to be important and known as the golden age have been described by Jayakumar, while orator Bharathy Basker took pride in being the descendants of the Chola empire who contributed a lot to this land.

The makers of Ponniyin Selvan are planning to release the movie in two installments. They are yet to announce the date on which the film's second part will hit the screens.