Mani Ratnam takes the next big step for 'Ponniyin Selvan'

Mani Ratnam's long-pending dream of bringing Kalki's historical epic novel 'Ponniyin Selvan' to the silver screen is nearing its fruition as he is on the verge of completing the pre-production process. As another big step, the ace director has flown off to Thailand to finalize the locations for a major portion of the film. Bollywood stunt choreographer Sham Kaushal is also in the trip as the story is loaded with many action sequences.

It is said that Thailand and Indonesia have been chosen due to its rich forests and also because the temples there resemble the 9th-century feel in which the story is set. 'Ponniyin Selvan' has A.R. Rahman scoring the music, Ravi Varman handling the camera and Thotta Tharani taking care of the production design.

Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Keerthy Suresh, Prabhu, Jayaram, Parthiban and Amitabh Bachchan are said to be the principle cast of 'Ponniyin Selvan' which is being produced on a grand scale by Lyca Productions.