Ponniyin Selvan vs real history - Page 2

I did not know that Mani Ratnam made a movie inspired by Mahabharat

Just read Thalapati s wiki. I am glad I never knew about this movie for my own piece of mind

I can never understand this obsession with an eve teaser. Even Rajamuli loves poor orphan karna

I mean I get differences and opinions and all that. People can love an eve teaser if they so want. But at least do not like him to his victim

Just don't disrespect Panchali like this.

Originally posted by: M.Wheeler

I did not know that Mani Ratnam made a movie inspired by Mahabharat

Just read Thalapati s wiki. I am glad I never knew about this movie for my own piece of mind

I can never understand this obsession with an eve teaser. Even Rajamuli loves poor orphan karna

I mean I get differences and opinions and all that. People can love an eve teaser if they so want. But at least do not like him to his victim

Just don't disrespect Panchali like this.

Yeah... and Roja was a Satyavan Savitri adaptation. Which I actually liked btw, unlike Thalapathi. Thing is he didn't need to put the romance track between Subbulaxmi and Surya. Boy could've just seen her, liked her, and went to father with a proposal. Avoid the sexual assault altogether if you badly want to whitewash. But no... they had to romance.

Originally posted by: vcs17

my point of puzzlement was the depiction of pandyas ( I read the books ages ago so dont remember if it was so in the books),

they are also as great as cholas with madurai as their seat and great temples and architecture to their credit,

here they are like some jungle folk and very "tribal" while cholas are like kings

of course they are defeated in exile but still

Exactly. Which is why I stated this book white washes Cholas.Pandiya kings also have a vast history and rich Architecture. My primary annoyance with this crew was when they promoted it as History. Because it's not. And technically in the movie, the characters Ravidasa ( antagonist) and others are not Pandiya rulers but helpers ( for the lack of better word) sort of . And according to researchers the antagonists are not helpers but ministers( definitely not tribals)in Pandya kingdom.

Hear me Roar…. You didn’t tell me you want to know about Ponniyin Selvan…. I am upset 😡

Ok Regarding the movie, Manirathnam has been extremely faithful to the book. Absolutely zero distortion and we can see the what Kalki actually wrote coming alive other than only one point. The lead female protagonists are fair skinned.
He could not find dark skinned Nandini I can understand. As she was supposedly so beautiful that no man who came in front of her remained in his senses…. but casting the other female lead Kundavai as fair skinned Trisha was totally wrong. Beauty was not the strength of this character her personality and brains were… But then if he casted Nayantara or Anushka they would have eaten Aishwarya alive with their sheer presence and Aishwarya is the main and most important character of the story so kind of Agree with his casting

Now coming to the book itself

The Cholas Legitimate Royal family and Chola Primeminister and Royal treasurer mentioned in the story are real characters from history as is the Pandian Legitimate Royal family. The fictional characters are everybody else created by Kalki.

Background Real History is that

Gandaraditya and Arinjaya were two Chola Brothers. Gandaraditya was older and had only one wife and no children till the fag end of his life when he has a son Uttama (Madurantaka) So when Gandharadhitya is on his death bed he crowns his nephew Sundara Chola as King.
Sundara Chola has 3 children of his own two sons Aditya Karikalan who is almost the same age as his toddler uncle Uttama. A younger Arulmozhi Varman (famously known as Ponniyin Selvan) and a daughter Kundavai

when Sundara Chola in his old age is on death bed AdityaKarikalan who is heir apparent (Only King’s son could be king so his uncle Uttama is bypassed as per law) kills the Pandya King on the battle field. Pandya’s supposedly take their revenge soon enough when he is found murdered. Historians say all evidences point at internal conspirators allied with Pandyas in the murder of Aditya

so now Arulmozhi (our PS) becomes heir apparent and he is the beloved of the people great warrior excellent administrator etc etc. But this chap refuses to be coronated after his father dies and makes his bypassed uncle Uttama Chola King and only after Uttama dies 14 years later that Arulmozhi finally becomes king

The fiction part is about to why Arulmozhi (PS) refused to be king and instead made his uncle King.

Kalki spins a fictitious tale of two women A mother and daughter lookalike played by Aishwarya in the movie who become the reason for our dear PS voluntarily giving up his right to rule. These two characters dont exist in the annals of the history, nor their family.

It’s a great work of art so please read it. The movie is faithful to the book but not to the original history

Originally posted by: HearMeRoar

Many readers believe …

Yudhistira

All lies.

OMG PRI 🤣🤣

YOU KILLED ME HERE. I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING 🤣🤣🤣 I know exactly what you mean. HAHAHAHAHA

Also been curious about reading the book, but only the first two are on audible 😭. I might read it too!

Originally posted by: Chiillii

Hear me Roar…. You didn’t tell me you want to know about Ponniyin Selvan…. I am upset 😡

Ok Regarding the movie, Manirathnam has been extremely faithful to the book. Absolutely zero distortion and we can see the what Kalki actually wrote coming alive other than only one point. The lead female protagonists are fair skinned.
He could not find dark skinned Nandini I can understand. As she was supposedly so beautiful that no man who came in front of her remained in his senses…. but casting the other female lead Kundavai as fair skinned Trisha was totally wrong. Beauty was not the strength of this character her personality and brains were… But then if he casted Nayantara or Anushka they would have eaten Aishwarya alive with their sheer presence and Aishwarya is the main and most important character of the story so kind of Agree with his casting

Now coming to the book itself

The Cholas Legitimate Royal family and Chola Primeminister and Royal treasurer mentioned in the story are real characters from history as is the Pandian Legitimate Royal family. The fictional characters are everybody else created by Kalki.

Background Real History is that

Gandaraditya and Arinjaya were two Chola Brothers. Gandaraditya was older and had only one wife and no children till the fag end of his life when he has a son Uttama (Madurantaka) So when Gandharadhitya is on his death bed he crowns his nephew Sundara Chola as King.
Sundara Chola has 3 children of his own two sons Aditya Karikalan who is almost the same age as his toddler uncle Uttama. A younger Arulmozhi Varman (famously known as Ponniyin Selvan) and a daughter Kundavai

when Sundara Chola in his old age is on death bed AdityaKarikalan who is heir apparent (Only King’s son could be king so his uncle Uttama is bypassed as per law) kills the Pandya King on the battle field. Pandya’s supposedly take their revenge soon enough when he is found murdered. Historians say all evidences point at internal conspirators allied with Pandyas in the murder of Aditya

so now Arulmozhi (our PS) becomes heir apparent and he is the beloved of the people great warrior excellent administrator etc etc. But this chap refuses to be coronated after his father dies and makes his bypassed uncle Uttama Chola King and only after Uttama dies 14 years later that Arulmozhi finally becomes king

The fiction part is about to why Arulmozhi (PS) refused to be king and instead made his uncle King.

Kalki spins a fictitious tale of two women A mother and daughter lookalike played by Aishwarya in the movie who become the reason for our dear PS voluntarily giving up his right to rule. These two characters dont exist in the annals of the history, nor their family.

It’s a great work of art so please read it. The movie is faithful to the book but not to the original history

Thank you!

And sorry about not asking you first 😆

Any suggestions on a good English translation of the book?

Tagging Shyam as he's also looking.

There is only one English translation available it’s on Amazon. I don’t remember the name of the person who translated it. It hadn’t caught peoples attention till now, therefore there are no retellinga and fan fictions yet. But I heard it’s flying off the shelves now because of the movie, so who knows we may soon get some Wattpad stories with creative interpretations

I hope Manirathnam keeps the story as is because story ends with intrigue and audience is left to guess the climax…. It’s like Christopher Nolan’s work….

the problem auidence confuse film, film making just as they confuse good role with good acting

also actual history, historical fiction, fantasy there is an entire spectrum.

lots of ppl are saying this different from baahubali which is " fantasy in histrory", that is correct but ps is historical fiction,

actually it is closer to RRR, even in RRR both charcters are real and there is no record of what they did during a 2-3 yr period before they evolved into freedom fighters, it is the same in PS too, these missing pieces have been made fictional in both cases.

now one may say, just because that part are fictionalised can they become superhuman? but that is the directors/writer choice, belief or sensibility, when fictionalising one wanted to make them super human, other grounded thats all. both are same genres.

Originally posted by: Chiillii

There is only one English translation available it’s on Amazon. I don’t remember the name of the person who translated it. It hadn’t caught peoples attention till now, therefore there are no retellinga and fan fictions yet. But I heard it’s flying off the shelves now because of the movie, so who knows we may soon get some Wattpad stories with creative interpretations

I hope Manirathnam keeps the story as is because story ends with intrigue and audience is left to guess the climax…. It’s like Christopher Nolan’s work….

Physical copy:

https://www.amazon.com/Kalkis-Ponniyin-Selvan-English-Historical/dp/8183455476


Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/Ponniyin-Selvan-Volumes-C-V-Karthik-Narayanan-ebook/dp/B072FVMGT3

Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XMG768X/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Ima lean towards the Kindle one because it's part of Kindle Unlimited 😆😆. Quick google search recommends the CV Karthik one too, so I might just grab that. But I'll defer to you Pri 😆. You're the expert.

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Have you read Sivakamiyin Sabadham Chillliii?

One of the reviews mentioned this was an amazing series too.
https://www.amazon.com/Sivakamiyin-Sabadham-1-Paranjyothis-Journey/dp/1477549684

pavithra srinivasan's translation is good