Ponniyin Selvan -2 – Review

The movie begins from where it ended in the first part. The news of Arunmozhi (Jayam Ravi) attaining a water gravy spreads like wildfire across the Chola empire.

It unleashes a sea of actions on multiple fronts. Pandyas are closing in on the members of the royal family, and Madhurantakan (Rahman) is plotting a coup with the help of the enemies of the Chola empire.

Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is successfully making her moves to uproot the Chola empire and avenge the killing of Veerapandiyan (Naasar). Aditha Karikalan (Vikram), the crown prince of the Chola kingdom, vows to avenge the death of his young brother by beheading Nandini.

Everything seems to be falling apart from all sides. What happens next, how does all this ends forms the rest of the story.

Director Mani Ratnam manages to capture the stirring emotions in each frame and just like the first part, he has stayed true to the novel by Kalki.

While in the first part the major goal was to establish the characters, the second part is about the conflict between them and how it all ends. The screenplay is clear and straightforward without any confusion.

All the unanswered questions of ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’ are answered in this sequel. All the dots are nicely connected towards the end. Vikram and Aishwarya steal the show effortlessly.

The intense conflict between their characters forms the core of the movie and they have got into the skin of their respective character breathing soul to their roles. Aishwarya is impressive as the Oomai Raani Mandhakani as well.

Jayam Ravi brings the royalty required to play Raja Raja Cholan. Again Karthi scores high for his all-round performance. His chemistry with Trisha is eye pleasing.

Others like Prakash Raj, Rahman, Sarath Kumar, Parthiban, Kishore, Jaya Chitra, Vikram Prabhu, Sobhita Dhulipala, and Aishwarya Lekshmi are decent in their respective roles. Technically Ponniyin Selvan 2 is just splendid. The songs by AR Rahman are decent, but his background score is very effective.