MUMBAI: The makers of master filmmaker Mani Ratnam's upcoming magnum opus "Ponniyin Selvan - 1" on Wednesday released a new poster of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
Also starring Vikram, Karthi, Trisha Krishnan, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Jayam Ravi and Aishwarya Lekshmi, the much-anticipated Tamil historical drama is set to be released on September 30 Ratnam's Madras Talkies, one of the production houses behind the two-part film franchise "Ponniyan Selvan", took to Twitter to share Aishwarya's poster as Nandini, the Queen of Pazhuvoor who is motivated by "vengeance".
"Vengeance has a beautiful face! Meet Nandini, the Queen of Pazhuvoor! #PS1 releasing in theatres on 30th September in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. @madrastalkies_ #ManiRatnam @arrahman," the banner said in a tweet.
The character posters of Vikram as Chola Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan and Karthi as Vanthiyathevan, a "prince without a kingdom", were recently released by the makers.
The first part of "Ponniyin Selvan" reunites Aishwarya with Ratnam following her acting debut in 1997 "Iruvar" (Tamil), "Guru" (the 2007 Hindi film), and the 2010 Hindi movie "Raavan" (shot simultaneously as "Raavanan" in Tamil).
The movie is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 Tamil novel of the same name, which chronicles the story of the early days of Arulmozhivarman, one of the most powerful kings in the south, who went on to become the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I.
Also backed by Allirajah Subaskaran's banner Lyca Productions, "Ponniyin Selvan" has Ratnam also serving as co-writer on the screenplay with Elango Kumaravel, while B Jeyamohan has been credited as the dialogue writer.
The film's music has been scored by Ratnam's frequent collaborator AR Rahman.
Cinematographer Ravi Varman, who worked with the filmmaker on his 2017 Tamil movie "Kaatru Veliyidai", has shot the upcoming project.