Nrc

PS- 1 (PONNIYIN SELVAN) MOVIE, not just a review (long post alert) Note: it's only difficult to write a post about this movie in short, imagine how difficult it is to concise something like novel of 5volumes and picturise to fit in just 5.5hours ?! Firstly, I want to you tell you guys this is not a "fictional fantasy" rather a "historical fiction" read that again & again. Coz during all the review interviews I was repeatedly asked this question "was it like Bahubali or Brahmastra?" .. it can't be like Bahubali since it's not a fantasy fiction where you have the liberty to show unimaginable things and the grandeur to it, same with Brahmastra which also had it's impossible movie sequences. The novel is already there, all Mani had to do was concise to a movie format. Coming to PS1- the Movie, Keep in mind, this movie is a "period drama" The movie is based out of a historical fiction novel which was written way back in 1950's as weeklies and piled upto release as a novel in 1955. The novel has events, characters which are 30-40% real and rest fictional. The craze for the book is still high going past generations, highest sold novel in every book fair, has its presence in every medium. Mani Ratnam subdued likes of many interests who also wanted to direct this as movie too and clearly, Mani sir won the cake & carries a huge responsibility. So I would say, this is a complete Mani Ratnam's film. First time goers may need to watch it twice for better understanding because PS1 comprises lot of unanswered questions like who is who or why this is happening, who is whose relative, what's the aim, what went wrong between these two? confusions happening inside the empire and so many other unresolved elements. Every answer will be revealed in PS-2 in detail and it's also already there in the book so, I am sure even before part-2 releases many of you would end up reading the 5parts novel. Screenplay(4.3/5) is good, slow-paced visual treat. Camera man Ravi-varman has done some poetic shots especially, door opening scene inside forest. VFX/CGs are few & they tried to use natural schemes as much as possible. Too much of filters were predominantly used on Aishwarya Rai I guess 😜 every character shares almost equal screen space and they really looked amazing. One more thing I like about the characters like adita or arunmozhi they weren't looking so ripped . Just how a ruler would have looked like, strong and dynamic. I honestly, loved Trisha as Kundhavai, her screen presence was amazing and just like a princess! her expressions felt real & on point. Vikram and others needless to say they were all extraordinary with their performances.. there was no scarcity of performances.. everyone looked like they knew what they were doing! Even small characters like Vanamadevi or even Vanangamudiyar were also noticeable! AR Rahman's BG score(4.3/5) is excellent just some BGS I felt didn't fit in few areas. Hands down my fav scene were face-off between Nandini and Kundhavai, Door opening sequence, Devaralen visuals, poongazhali scenes, pandiyargal aabathu uthavigal scenes. What I would recommend for the movie goers: 1) See the location: to keep track of where it's happening or traveling towards or who is telling it. 2) Try to hear the names of the characters, closely and also each other's relation. 3) subtle nuances in their dialogue which could be a lead & to understand their motive, wish or strategy. 4) understand the plot in a simplified form (esply if you haven't read the book) PS: Always always.. I would highly recommend to read the Kalki's novel whatsoever!