Mani Ratnam, the ace filmmaker, recently announced his next project. And it is said that the bigwigs of Indian cinema have been roped in for this project. Mani Ratnam’s next project will be based on the popular Tamil novel Ponniyin Selvan, an adaptation of late Kalki Krishnamurthy’s historical novel with the same name. Actor Keerthy Suresh has been reportedly signed for a pivotal role in the film.

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According to the reports, Keerthy has been roped in to play the role of Princess Kundavai in the film. Keerthy saw many of her film's release last year including Mahanati, Thaanaa Serndha Koottam, Sarkar and Sandakozhi 2. An official announcement is yet to be made by the makers about the cast and crew but the reports suggest that Aishwarya Rai, Mohan Babu, Amitabh Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, and Vikram will star in the film.

The project will be bankrolled by Lyca Productions on a lavish scale and the shooting is expected to begin next year. Recently, Mani Ratnam was in talks with Vijay to play one of the leads in the project and had even roped in Mahesh Babu for a role. A photo shoot was done in Chennai but unfortunately, the project was shelved just a week before it was scheduled to go on the floors.

The film is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's historical novel and will narrate the story of Arulmozhivarman, who later became the great Raja Chola. The pre-production work has already commenced on the project. The makers are in the process of erecting huge sets to shoot crucial portions of the film.

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