#ponniyin selvan spoilers

[a-whole-new-world]

Ok so watched Ponniyin Selvan..

Vanthiyadevan my beloved

The scene where Nandini saw her younger self on the throne...just chills bro..

Kudhavai and her wits... Trisha nailed it

Jayam Ravi as THE PONNIYIN SELVAN .. was a huge surprise for me..good job

Overall the movie was AMAZING...

ps : Vanthiyadevan was theee bi icon of the Chozha kingdom..Change my mind

[dykrophone]

WHY DID THEY KILL NANDINI DIE DIE DIE

[holly-mckenzie]

SUCCESSION S04E06 “Living+” dir. by Lorene Scafaria PONNIYIN SELVAN: II dir. by Mani Ratnam

[balladedutempsjadis]

Shoutout to my movie boyfriend Arulmozhi Varman and his nerves of steel. First in the Buddhist monastery, with five assassins waiting to kill him, unarmed, calm and quiet, walking out of there without a scratch, shielded by the respect and love of these Buddhist monks.

Then, while Vandiyadevan and Nambi are frantically chasing Pandya assassins all over Nagapattinam, he doesn’t rush the procession at all, walking slowly and calmly with Vanathi, while people throw flowers at him which could have been spears or knives.*

And then poor Nambi and Vandiyadevan are freaking out about the rogue mahout and my dude is like “I got this. Elephants and I have an understanding.” (Vanathi looks impressed too! Who wouldn’t be?)

He’s so composed and confident and reliable. It’s super sexy (so are his arms but that’s for another post.) In the books, another character compares Arulmozhi Varman to the Dhruva Nakshatram (the Pole Star) that sailors at sea rely on above all other aids to navigation. “All the other stars and the planets may change positions and directions, but the Pole Star alone remains steadfast.” Somehow, Mani Ratnam, his amazing cinematographer Ravi Varman** and Jayam Ravi’s physical presence and expressions managed to translate these qualities - steadfastness, constancy, the essence of the lodestar - to the screen even without dialogue.

* I understand why the Pandya assassins make themselves so visible in Nagapattinam, because they want to draw Nambi and Vandiyadevan away from the monastery so the five assassins posing as Buddhist monks can do their work unhindered. (They didn’t count on Ponniyin Selvan’s ability to make people willing to die to protect him ;)) And then elephant assassination is a good backup plan. But most of the time, it seems like they would have done better to act by stealth instead. If I were directing these attempts, I would have had them blend into the crowd and throw knives etc at the prince while he was walking through the crowd. 🤷‍♀️

** just as an example, there is way less camera movement for Arulmozhi Varman’s scenes than for Aditha Karikalan. In PS1, contrast the camera work when Aditha is telling Parthibendran about Nandini (it’s swirling around all over the place to match Aditha’s inner turmoil) to the camera work when Arulmozhi is telling Vandiyadevan and Nambi about the Oomai Rani and her role in his life. Both brothers are talking about love, but the total difference in what they are talking about and their own personalities is reflected in the camera work.

[itsfookingloosah]

Watched PS2 in the theatre and it should be illegal for so many people to serve this much cunt in one movie

[thecagedflightlessbird]

Aditya karikaln: *sends vandiya devan to kundavai knowingly*

Also him: *in a letter to kundavai* I'm thinking of giving manimekala 's hand in marriage to vandiya devan

[shaevilux]

SPOILERS FOR PONNIYIN SELVAN 2

*Vandiyathevan, tied up, on the floor, bleeding, about to be killed by his captor*

Nandhini: Tell me where he is and I'll let you go.

Vandiyathevan: your mom.

*Nandhini, crying and shaking, lets him go*

[ambidextrousarcher]

“தங்களை வடிவத்தில் மிகவும் ஒத்தவளாய், பேச முடியாத ஸ்திரீயாக அவள் இருக்க வேண்டும்."

நந்தினியின் பார்வை எங்கேயோ வெகு தூரத்தில் சென்றிருந்தது. ஒரு நெடிய பெருமூச்சு விட்டாள்.

"ஐயா! சற்று முன்னால் எனக்கு ஏதேனும் உதவி செய்யவிரும்புவதாகச் சொன்னீர் அல்லவா?"

“ஆம்!"

“அது தாங்கள் உண்மையாகச் சொன்ன வார்த்தைதானே?"

“சந்தேகமில்லை."

“அப்படியானால் இதைக் கேளும். எப்போதாவது ஒரு சமயம் மறுபடியும் அந்த ஸ்திரீயைப் பார்க்க நேர்ந்தால் அவளை எப்படியாவது பிடித்துக் கொண்டு வந்து என்னிடம் சேர்ப்பியும். அது முடியாவிட்டால் என்னையாவது அவளிடம் அழைத்துக் கொண்டு செல்லும்!" என்றாள் நந்தினி.”

Excerpt From

Ponniyin Selvan Anaithu Pagangal (Tamil Edition)

Kalki

This material may be protected by copyright.

Context: Vandiyathevan and Nandini discuss Mandakini.

“She looks very much like you. She must be a woman who cannot talk.”

Nandini’s gaze seemed far away. She let out a deep sigh.

“Sir! Some time ago, you said that you will do my any favour you can, did you not?”

“Yes!”

“That is an oath you made in all honesty, is it not?”

“There is no doubt (about it)”

“If that is so, then listen to this. If you see that lady again at any time, bring her to me somehow. If that is not possible, at least take me to her!” said Nandini.

Putting my thoughts under readmore, for slight spoiler alert.

It is honestly heartbreaking how desperate Nandini is to see her mother. And it breaks my heart too, that the woman who is more than a mother to Arulmozhi in his own words, was so badly hurt by Veera Pandiyan, that she couldn’t be a mother to her own daughter.

Another snippet in the series! Tagging @mizutaama @harinishivaa @willkatfanfromasia @celestesinsight @favcolourrvibgior @deadloverscity @racoonpaws @humapkehaikaun @whippersnappersbookworm @themorguepoet @thereader-radhika and @thelekhikawrites

[astrogations]

PS-1 made me read the books and (SPOILERS for the second movie), there is a whole MOMENT happening when Vandiyathevan and Arulmozhi are stuck in the sea. 

“By the time he clawed his way to awareness, it was light. Day seemed to have broken; the sun had undoubtedly risen somewhere – but where exactly, Vandhiyathevan seemed unable to decipher. He blinked away the mists of oblivion to notice the prince gazing at him with deep, if exhausted affection. “Land must be close, my friend,” he murmured. “I glimpsed the top of a coconut tree just now. Patience – just a while more!” “You ought to leave me to my fate, your highness,” Vandhiyathevan pleaded, again. “Let me go – save yourself –” “Don’t – don’t say that. You ought to know by now that I’d never give you up – ah, was that a voice?” The prince raised a head that seemed unaccountably heavy, and peered across the water. “Someone singing …”

(Ponniyin Selvan Book 2: Whirlwinds)

[bookbutterfly1999]

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My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Nathalie willing to die for Adrien… being a real mom to him than his own gosh dang father who would rather harm his own birth son than help him in an fatherly context and also continuously manipulates their relationship…

10 notes - Posted November 4, 2022

#4

Spoilers for Netflix Show: Wednesday.

Stuff I liked about Wednesday after binge watching:

Wednesday Addams being a little shit but still caring for her brother/brother figures

Gomez and Morticia

The red herrings with the headmistress and the therapist

Enid and Thing

So basically characterisation was heavily emphasised for most characters (except the guys, you know who)

The Poe Cup being a no rules thing (tho I expected it to be more wilder since it’s a no rules thing)

The queen bee actually being a nuanced person with her own issues and not being the stereotypical queen bee archetype. Thank goodness.

Teens being difficult TM (esp with authority figures and parents)

Stuff like Yoko being friends with both Bianca and Enid…

Tyler’s question… that scene was AMAZING.

What I did NOT like about Wednesday or felt it could have been done way better… maybe they could improve it in second season?

The villain(s), could have been more fleshed out as a character, making their “betrayal” that much more impactful

Same with the white bread guys tbh

The thing being a school-wide popular person (although well done with them being a part of Nightshade)

Actual more clues about who Thing could belong to? Being the Addams family’s biggest mystery, shouldn’t it intrigue Wed more?

Her visions being a plot moving forward device rather than actually being super random and even having the potential to be played as a joke at times… (not all the time)

Goody Addams and not actually being super relevant to the plot? Like yes but could have delved more into the whys and hows

Not being told much about the red moon thing?

We’d not being suspicious about Tyler

Showing us how Tyler avoided “Wed’s superior olfactory senses) using coffee? And other such cleaver sprinklings of the clues across the season as a montage?

Morticia not having even a single vision? Why not? Can draw a parallel between how different she’s from Wed yet how similar…

Idk there’s a lot more, I’ll update the more I think about it…

12 notes - Posted November 26, 2022

#3

Ok story time

So I’m not back home in India but I wanted to watch this Tamil film called Ponniyin Selvan as soon as it released because I loved the story when I took time to get into it.

So I emailed my small college town to release the film and they initially refused but afterwards accepted and screened the film for 3ish days…

And that’s how the first Tamil film in the town was screened….

The film was amazing and worthy of the time I took to request it hehe

12 notes - Posted November 8, 2022

#2

In the initial few episodes, when Nick says that he told Tara about them, and Charlie went “Omg you are amazing”…. He must be so overwhelmed with how Ben treated him that this one small act seemed so humongous to Charlie…

21 notes - Posted May 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

What is it about the blond overachiever x the black haired herbo/ physically competent kick ass, dynamic, that is so damn compelling?

50 notes - Posted November 24, 2022

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[a-whole-new-world]

A R RAHMAN PLEASE RELEASE PONNIYIN SELVAN OST

Like I'm DESPERATE

[rang-lo]

PS-I Final Scene: ஒரே சூரியரே

(Spoilers ahead! This is the music that plays in the background during the scene where the news of Ponniyin Selvan drowning in the ocean reaches Thanjavur and he’s presumed dead. @deadloverscity​ had asked about the lyrics of the music, and that made me rewatch the scene and dig up a lot of tiny details. I’ve attempted a translation here, please correct me if I didn’t get the lyrics/translation right!)

ஒரே சூரியரே, ஒளிஞ்சொரு ஆட்டம் என்ன  O singular Sun, what is this game of hiding?

பாவி தேடிவந்தேன், நம்பி தேடிவந்தேன் I, a sinner, have come searching for you, with full faith பொன்னி நதி காத்திருக்க, சோழ மண்ணும் காத்திருக்க  The river Ponni is waiting, the Chozha soil is waiting

வெண்ணிலவும் காத்திருக்க, சூரியன காணலையே The moon is waiting, but the Sun is nowhere to be seen என் கண்மணிய காணலையே, காவலன காணலையே  My beloved is nowhere to be seen, the protector is nowhere to be seen என் முக்காலத்த காணலையே, முத்துமகன் காணலையே My past, present and future is nowhere to be seen, my beloved son is nowhere to be seen

Some things that cropped up in my mind as I watched the scene:

Arunmozhi is being compared to the sun here. This might have been based on an extended metaphor that is first referenced in the Kudanthai Sodhidar chapter in Book 1 where Vanathi and Kundhavai compare him to the sun. He’s also referred to multiple times as the young sun (”இளம் சூரியன்”/”ilam suriyan”) of the Chozhas by various characters throughout the book!

One of the things that stood out most to me while watching this scene the first time was how it was intended to be a scene involving mourning/grief/receiving news of death. In the language of film this usually translates to a dimly lit scene because darkness/absence of light is typically used to represent death, sorrow and grief, but in stark contrast, this scene is brightly lit. If anything, it’s golden hour lighting, and the sun is literally lighting up their faces from certain angles. I’m thinking this might be because 1) logistically it must have taken till sunrise for news to spread from the ocean to Thanjavur because his “death” appears to have happened at the previous evening. So it makes sense the news arrived the next morning, which explains the golden hour lighting. 2) But also, given the sun-Arunmozhi analogy and how the lyrics sing of the sun hiding, why is there so much light, so much sun? It might be foreshadowing that Arunmozhi is not actually dead. The sun is still out there. It could be an intentional juxtaposition of 2 conflicting film devices - lyrics of “the sun is hiding” and visuals of the sun literally shining right at them. This mirrors the conflicting occurrences in the story - everyone assuming Arunmozhi is dead, when the truth is otherwise.

I also thought it was interesting the minister tells Sundara Chozha the Ponni river has become an orphan (”பொன்னி நதி அனாதை ஆகிவிட்டாள்”/“ponni nadhi anaadhai aagivittaal”) instead of simply telling him Arunmozhi is dead. It reminds us of the close connection Arunmozhi has with the river. But he’s known as Ponni’s son, so why would his death mean that Ponni would become an orphan? 

Kundavai’s nuanced thinking upon hearing the news is evident in Trisha’s acting during this scene! She doesn’t say a word, barely reacts to the information, simply pulls Vanathi into her chest and comforts her silently, but you can tell from her facial expressions that she’s having a lot of thoughts in her mind about how this could have happened, what this could possibly mean for the future of the Chozhas, and what is the next step to take. This matches Kundavai’s depiction throughout the books - she is after all a political strategist and is constantly having to put logic and decision-making before her own emotions, so she cannot afford to grieve or mourn her brother.

[goldengalaxy99]

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#5

It's been a week and I'm still thinking about the Nandini-throne scene. So I'm gonna gush about it some more.

As someone who didn't read the books, my knowledge of the characters and their motivations were wholly reliant on the movie. And up until that scene, I was trying to figure out where Nandini's loyalties lie and what her motivation is.

At first I thought she's loyal to her husband then we see her help Vanthiyathevan only for her to immediately sell him out to her husband and then in a surprise twist we see her conspiring with the Pandya spy. Even after Karikalan tells his story, her motivations remain a mystery because the story was so one-sided and its obvious there's more to it.

And so when we see her look longingly at the throne as she envisions her younger self sitting on it, everything about her character becomes crystal clear. We still don't know alot of her character history but we know what's most important. That Nadini is loyal to no man or kingdom. She is loyal only to herself and the throne is what has motivated her all this time.

The scene doesn't just introduce us to the true Nandini but it also recontextualizes the whole movie. Nandini was always a major player in the movie but after that scene the audience realizes that she IS the mastermind behind it all and the only one truly challenging her at this point is Kundavai

I also think it's such a clever way of translating what I'm sure is a lot of rich source material about her character into a simple and elegant scene.

Like I said before, i have CHILLS

71 notes - Posted October 9, 2022

#4

Spoilers for wakanda forever

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Really loved the scene at the end of shuri and namor's battle when we see scenes of the people of wakanda and talokan cut together. It reminds us of how similar these societies are. The scene flashes through pivotal moments of joy and grief and love in both shuri and namor's life. And that helps us remember the humanity of our fellow human. We have all lost and suffered and we all have precious things we must protect.

And it is better to choose peace than vengeance because every person carries a whole universe within them.

76 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

#3

Listen the moment in Ponniyin Selvan when Nandini sees her younger self on the throne???? I HAD CHILLS

170 notes - Posted October 1, 2022

#2

Okay but the rage Jen felt was so palpable. Seeing her watch it unfold. Having her private life displayed before her coworkers and her family. That eye contact with her dad!! And having Mallory tell her not to do it but she's just so angry and rightfully so!!!!

Then to have the episode end with her barely contained rage, the tears on her face, and a close up of her as she looks at us. It all sinks in, she's truly a hulk now, feared by the public and surrounded by weapons pointed at her

358 notes - Posted October 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Wakanda forever spoilers!!

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So I know alot of people have been focusing on the potential black panther recasting implications of T'Challa Jr.'s introduction in the post credits scene. But when I first watched it I was just so happy for shuri, who up to that point, had believed she was left all alone in this world. Only to be given this gift from her brother in the form of this adorable nephew that she can love and nurture and see grow into a great man. And all this coming after that amazing scene where she is finally able to properly mourn her brother

It was just so beautiful

360 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

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[balladedutempsjadis]

Ponniyin Selvan (The Book vs. Movie edition)

I've just today finished the five volumes of Kalki Krishnamurthy's epic historical novel Ponniyin Selvan, which was the basis for the two-movie series of the same name which I ADORED after I watched the first movie for the first time a couple of weeks ago. And ... I have some thoughts on the books and on the adaptation of the books. First of all, some general thoughts about the books:

I really wish I could read this in the original Tamil. In my understanding, these books are a beloved modern classic of Tamil literature, and the English translation, though perfectly fine and serviceable in terms of explicating the plot, rarely has memorable language.

Perhaps this is a function of the translation, or a different literary tradition, or the author's style (and I'll never really know which), but there is a lot of stuff that I can best describe as static. Actions and events are often described after they occur so as a reader, I felt distanced from what was going on in several scenes.

There are a LOT of coincidences (the entire Sembian Amuthan plotline is heavily based on coincidences) and repetition.

Even if I didn't know this was serialized, I would have guessed because of the repetition mentioned above, frequent flashbacks, and the padding out of some of the scenes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (it reminds me of Dickens' novels, which I happen to be quite fond of) but it's definitely a hallmark of the novels.

I felt sometimes that Kalki was having a bit of a struggle with the historical characters having to do what they did in history versus his fictional characters like Nandini being able to do what they wanted. So sometimes I felt the characterizations were a bit lacking (and I definitely skipped some of Sembian Mahadevi's musings, SORRY!)

Now for the differences between the books and film versions (SPOILERS FOR THE BOOKS AND BOTH FILMS BELOW).

In general, with one exception I'll talk about later, I think the scriptwriters did an amazing job of adapting this immense series to film. In fact, for a number of things, I think they improved the pacing of the narrative and cut out extraneous stuff that detracted from the momentum of the main story - these were things that may have worked in a serialized novel but would have drowned even a gigantic six hour film series. All that follows is just my opinion, of course!

First of all, a fair number of characters were just cut out of the story, which I thought tightened up the narrative. (For example, Manimeghalai was completely unnecessary IMO for the story to proceed and she really detracted from the scene between Aditha Karikalan and Nandini when Karikalan dies; the intensity of that scene would have suffered from having anyone else observe it.) Poonghuzhali's brother and father (her sister-in-law Rakkamal is still there but not related) are gone in the film version. And that's all fine, I think it would have made things more confusing and I don't even think a tv series would have been able to use ALL these characters. (Also, I think I like that Poonghzhali seems more stable in the movie.)

I also liked that they cut out the astrologer. I thought the book relied way too heavily on the astrologer's predictions and while that may have been an accurate portrayal of 10th century Chola society, it also removed the jeopardy from the characters. If Arulmozhi Varman's sister would be confident that nothing terrible could happen to him because of the lines on his palm, then it was really hard to generate suspense about him within the story. (I mean obviously as readers/moviegoers we might know that he became Rajaraja Chola and therefore survived the assassination attempts, but his contemporaries and the fictional characters in-universe didn't know that he would end up being a great king.)

For me, it was more powerful to see how much the kingdom mourned him and his family mourned him than to have his sister shrug and be like "oh well, the stars don't say he dies so he's probably alive." And the way that they mourned him also helped develop their characters (To be fair, I also can't figure out what Kalki believed re:astrology either, because occasionally the author's voice is very skeptical about the astrologer as well.)

More controversially, I think they were right to cut out the whole Senthan Amuthan storyline about being the real son of Sembian Mahadevi and the previous king etc. etc. The hidden identity heir business was just way too melodramatic for me even in the book, and I don't think it would have worked at all for me in the movies. I mean, SA doesn't really even have much characterization in the book anyway (he's there a lot and helps out when he can but other than the fact that he loves Poonguzhali and has a nice voice, I couldn't tell you much about him.) Plus that would necessitate that Fake!Madhurantaka be Nandini's twin etc. and that would also have not been believable.

Now ... onto the main characters books vs. movie:

Aditha Karikalan: I honestly liked him much more in the movies than in the books. He was the tragic hero of the movie, with a clear arc, and Vikram brought oodles of charisma to his role. But in the books, he was a lot more opaque to me (his love for Nandini is not his focus - so he maybe falls in love with Manimegalai? - and that moment where he chooses to die isn't as crystal clear.) Also, Book!Aditha is a bit of an asshole towards all of his friends, frankly, which movie Aditha is not.

His chief faults in the movie are that he's ruled by his emotions (which is both why he sins against Nandini by beheading an unarmed man - Veera Pandyan - in a fit of rage that Nandini is pleading for his life AND why he tries to atone for that sin by committing suicide, which of course doesn't actually solve anything and in fact embroils innocent people like Vandiyathevan in a horrible situation).I still think he wouldn't have made a good king, not least because he would not listen to ANYONE'S advice, whether that someone was his grandfather, his friend, or his brother or his sister.

Book!Aditha might have made a better King - he actually goes to Kadambur not just to see Nandini, but partly in order to find out and allay the different Chola clans and possibly cement one of their loyalties by marriage to MM, so I thought that made for an interesting contrast. Even in the books, though, Kalki compares how the people mourned Aditha (as a great warrior whose absence threatened their kingdom's survival) and how they mourned Arulmozhi when he was believed to be dead (as a beloved son/brother even if they didn't know him personally.) The book (and movie though to a lesser degree because it's so preoccupied with Nandini/Aditha) has a lot to say about power and responsibility (so there are constant contrasts between not just Aditha and Arulmozhi but between the Pazhuvettarayar brothers and Arulmozhi - for example, over whether the Chola kingdom should supply the army in Elangai or whether they should live off the land. AMV is much more farsighted and knows how important it is to not make a conquered populace feel subjugated because they will rebel.)

Nandini: I feel like she was a lot more fleshed out in the film than Book!Nandini, and as she and Aditha were the emotional focal point of the movies, it makes more sense. Her motivations seemed clearer to me, and I also appreciated that we actually found out what happened to her, and she didn't just disappear off the page. I also liked, as mentioned above, that they didn't bother with the False!Madhuranthakan who was actually Nandini's twin etc. I liked that they fleshed out the love story between her and Aditha and gave Kundavai a role and also showed how it was Aditha's impulsive declaration that she would be THE Chola Queen that directly led to Nandini - who had done nothing wrong - being unceremoniously bundled off to wherever. (Would I also have liked a little more of how Aditha reacted to his family's banishment of Nandini? I think I would. Like we got a little bit of that in PS1 when he blames Kundavai for being jealous but not much more than that?)

Kundavai was very awesome in both book and film, but she had a lot less to do in the second movie. As I mentioned above, I loved that she actually believed her beloved younger brother to be dead so we got to see her reaction compared to Aditha's. (Aditha basically goes into beast mode and is like “I can fight whoever to avenge my little brother” and Kundavai is, as usual, a lot more rational even in the depths of grief.) I also really liked that brief scene the film gave us with all three siblings together which was a nice addition to the story. I felt there were not very many differences between Book! and Movie!Kundavai - although the book definitely played up her influence over her younger brother a bit more. She is the mirror to Nandini and maybe Nandini would have been like Kundavai if she had not had such struggles in her early life? I do like that in both books and movie, the female characters are so strong (I mean, well-characterized) and different from one another.

Vandiyadevan is just a great character! His resemblance to D'Artagnan was even stronger in the books (he had time for even more adventures) and his verbal sparring with Nambi was great and nicely translated to screen, I thought. I did think his presence in Kadambur and his (partial) witnessing of Aditha's death and aftermath was handled with more pace and worked better for me in the film (again, no Manimegalai was a great decision. And the picnic that Nandini goes on with Aditha and Vandiyadevan and MM and others (I think?) It was late at night when I was reading and I was like WTF so I might be misremembering it) dilutes the Aditha/Nandini meeting a lot. Anyway, back to Vandiyadevan - still sooooo charming. I loved Karthi in this role and am going to watch Kaatru Velliyadai (although I understand he's very different in that one!) sometime this week. But I found Book!Vandiyadevan lovely as well. I think his character translated perfectly from book to screen.

Arulmozhi Varman - I thought the books would focus more on him than they did, given that he's the title character. And I was a little surprised that he still wasn't the main focus of the books (though there's more focus on him in the later volumes), but there were some nice little character moments that I wish could have come into the movie. (Though there were a couple of things in the movie that I also really liked which showed his character beautifully.)

I read Kalki's afterword about how the pivotal scene in all of the books is Arulmozhi Varman's sacrifice of his crown, because that is an amazing thing for any ruler to do, to voluntarily give up his own power and step back. The books talk about the Chola ancestor Sibi, who was willing to give up his own life to protect a pigeon from an eagle because the pigeon was under his protection. I believe we are meant to understand Arulmozhi's sacrifice in a similar light. He is all about protecting the realm, even if it means sacrificing his own ambitions and that makes him Sibi's worthy heir. (In the Mahabharata, Arjuna is the peerless warrior prince, but his brother Yudhishtira is the Dharmaraja - the best of all; and I think we are meant to see echoes of Arjuna (and his son Abhimanyu, alone in the midst of his enemies) in Aditha and echoes of Yudhishtira in Arulmozhi.)

The books and the movie handle this immense sacrifice a little differently; in the book, we get a lot more motivation for that action: AMV is steeped in the history of the Singhalese kingdom and horrified by how bloody their succession battles were (he references fathers killing sons and vice versa more than once) and he is super clear that he doesn't want to bring that mess to the Chola kingdom or cause a civil war or anything like that. But there are two more elements as well, that I mostly got from the book: he truly loves Vanathi and she has sworn an oath that she doesn't want to be empress, so he can't have both Vanathi and the throne (but it's also a political decision, since if he's King, and marries Vanathi, then he'll be seen as privileging her clan above all others unless he marries a bunch of other girls as well). I also genuinely think he also wants to go hang out with Vandiyadevan and have adventures (while also doing the necessary jobs of fighting pirates and expanding trade and all that other stuff.)

The movies don't make that explanation as explicit, but there is this golden thread of self-sacrifice that runs through Arulmozhi's scenes in the movies as well: first of all, he refuses to take the throne of Elangai, though it is offered to him by the monks who crowned all the kings of the island. (This happens in both the books and the movie, but the books make this a more political decision - AMV says Elangai is too small for the scope of his vision, and that he doesn't want it to look like he's setting up a parallel second kingdom to the Cholas in opposition to his brother - whereas in the movies, it is clearly a matter of dharma. And the movie really sells that.)

Then Arulmozhi jumps into a stormy sea to swim to a ship full of people who want to kill him, in order to save Vandiyadevan. (I mean also some breathtaking confidence in himself that he and Vandiyadevan by themselves can defeat the Pandya rebels. He definitely does not lack for confidence :)) I cannot believe I actually forgot about this and had to come back and edit this post.I guess I am too used for Arulmozhi being awesome for this even to register on the scale?

The third self-sacrifice is when Arulmozhi is recovering from his life-threatening fever amidst the Buddhist monks at Nagapattinam. In the movie, somehow the Pandya assassins find out he's there and rile up the crowd which threatens to destroy the monastery which they claim is hiding their beloved prince from them. Although AMV is encouraged to slip away to escape the Pandya assassins, he refuses to repay his hosts by allowing their monastery to be destroyed. So he goes out to face the crowd, despite knowing that he's putting his life in danger by doing this. In the movie, he makes a choice to reveal himself and once again we see that Arulmozhi will always privilege the good of the people under his protection (the people of Elangai, Vandiyadevan, the monks, and ultimately the whole populace of the Chola Kingdom) over his own desires, and even his own life if need be. Over and over again, he shows himself to be the true heir of Sibi. (I also thought the elephant-goad plot was REALLY well done in the movie; even knowing obviously that AMV survived this, I was SO tense during that entire sequence. The book version just wasn’t as tense. Anyway …) So in the movie we keep seeing WHY Arulmozhi will be the great king he becomes but also why he will not take the crown at the end - and by not taking it, he makes himself all the more worthy of it.

In the book, in contrast, he leaves the monastery because there's about to be a devastating cyclone and it's not safe there any more. His disguise is revealed against his will by Rakammal hailing him as the prince; he's not given any choice in the matter. And he has very good and valid reasons for not wanting to reveal who he is which are also an excellent lead-up to his giving up the throne. Book!Arulmozhi wants to avoid a civil war over the succession at all possible costs. And he knows the public is fickle and easily swayed (there’s a whole subplot about there are rumors that HE had Vandiyadevan kill Aditha Karikalan so he - AMV - could be crowned, which only one character says in the film and everyone ELSE is like “Arulmozhi would NEVER!” But in the books more people seem like they are could be swayed by that thought - and giving up the throne to his father’s cousin is one spectacular way to give the lie to those rumors. And here’s also me, getting so angry on behalf of a fictional /historical character ;))

I think the movie version and the book version of this event both work really well for their respective media in terms of establishing who this man is, and what his character is, which lead up to his ultimate sacrifice.

The last sacrifice is, of course, that he give up the kingdom that *everyone* wants him to have. I think in both the books and the films, it's clear that the weird succession situation from his great-uncle Gandaraditha's day (where the throne when to the younger brothers of the king, and then to Sundara Chola - AMV's father - Gandarathia's nephew - rather than to Gandaraditha's own son) was bound to create a locus for discontent and coups egged on by the enemies of the Chola Kingdom. And that internecine strife is, from Kundavai's and AMV's perspective, what killed their brother and even put AMV in line to the throne at all. (They don't know all the backstory about Nandini and Aditha's guilt and his essential suicide. Also, I think it’s an interesting contrast between Aditha Karikalan who offers to give up the throne - once to the council of plotters where he says he’d do it if he had an army to go get himself another kingdom, and once when he proposes to Nandini that they just run off together. Arulmozhi had his chance at a kingdom won by force of arms - Elangai - and said no, and when he gives up the throne at the end of the books/movies it’s for love of the country he was expected to rule, not for love of an individual.)

The one thing I wish the movies had done was flesh out the Kundavai/Vandiyadevan and Vanathi/Arulmozhi connections. The actors did a lovely job with what they were given just from facial expressions and eyes (Vandiyadevan looks hopeless in love in the course of a single conversation when he's dressed as Krishna's uncle) and I bought into Vanathi and Arulmozhi's love for each other with nothing more than him reading her message in PS1 and a couple of times they looked at each other (so much love for Jayam Ravi and Shobita Dhulipala's facial expressions which sold the connection), but IT WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE FOR BOTH THESE COUPLES TO HAVE A CONVERSATION! But I realize I've seen a couple of Mani Ratnam's Hindi films (Dil Se, and Raavan - though I really want to watch the Tamil version of that) and he does doomed romance very adroitly. (Although from reading the plots of his several other films, apparently he also does do happy endings sometimes and I sort of wish we could have shifted the focus from Nandini/Aditha A LITTLE BIT to maybe just get a tiny conversation between these two other couples the I also loved. But at least I got some crumbs in terms of the full videos of the songs of "Veera Raja Veera" (for AMV/Vanathi) and "Aga Naga" (for Kundavai/Vandiyadevan. (FYI, the Veera Raja Veera video song is super hot - Rajaraja Chola is looking at his beloved while she dances as though she is an extremely tasty snack he can't wait to sample :P)

ALSO, if anyone wants to make PS3 with these actors I WOULD LOVE YOU FOREVER. In my head, it would be about Vandiyadevan doing wild stuff and flirting with EVERYBODY while Arunmozhi Varman sort of sighs and goes along with him to try and exercise some control over him* because Kundavai will kill him if anything happens to her boo, and they keep getting embroiled in weirder stuff and getting hit on the head (Vandiyadevan) and chilling out looking at Buddhist cave art and talking to elephants (AMV) and Kundavai just sits back and continues to run the kingdom (because she knows that AMV will not let anything happen to her boo). And of course, Nambi would be keeping an eye on both of them as well. Meanwhile, Vanathi is doing lots of dancing and going on some of the art tours with her husband, and also hanging out with Kundavai and rolling their eyes over their husbands. That would be totally fine!

*one of the things I loved in the books was that Vandiyadevan is influenced by Arulmozhi to be more truthful and upstanding, while Arulmozhi gets more devious after he meets Vandiyadevan. I feel this dynamic (along with the real-life bromance of Karthi and Jayam Ravi - every interview I've seen with them is the two of them having a great time!) would be AWESOME.

OK, this is insanely LONG again but I really enjoyed the novels and the movies - each medium enhanced the other for me, and in my head, the version of Ponniyin Selvan is what takes the parts I liked the best in movies and film. So Movie!Aditha and Movie!Nandini, BOTH the Vandiyadevans, Kundavais, Arulmozhi Varmans and Vanathis live in my heart :D

And I've also acquired Anirudh Kanisetti's Lords of the Deccan (which is more about the Cholas' predecessors and opponents like the Rashtrakutas and the Chalukyas) and Kamini Dandapani's Rajaraja Chola, which is about Ponniyin Selvan (but also about his predecessors and successors.)

[chahaa-piun-ja]

Ponniyin Selvan blog - 1

Just within the first few chapters, the depiction of the conflict between Shaivism (worshippers of Shiva) and Vaishnavism (worshippers of Vishnu) is so brilliant. I'll put some highlights under the cut, as they are (kind of) spoilers, but the impression I'm getting of Vandiya Devan just wanting to do his job and exasperated with these ardent devotees is great.

The first instance, from chapter 2 -

Vandiya Devan felt that he must stop this absurd rumpus. He came forward and said, "Sirs why are you arguing? Do you have nothing better to do? If you itch for a fight, why not go to Lanka? There is a big war going on there." Saying, "Who is this fellow trying to make peace?" [Azlvar-adiyan] quickly turned towards him." ... "How can you say that? Where is the proof that Shiva and Vishnu are equal?" chided Azlvar-adiyan. "Proof? I will give you proof. Last night I had been to Vaikunta, the abode of Vishnu. At the same time Shiva came visiting. Both were seated on equal thrones. They seemed to be of equal height. Still, to avoid any doubt, I measured their height with my arm ..." "Young man! Are you mocking me?" roared Azlvar-adiyan. "Yes, Thambi yes. Tell us more!" applauded the crowd. "Upon measuring them, I found both to be of exactly the same height. Without stopping at that I asked both Shiva and Thirumal directly. Do you know what they said? `Hari and Shiva are one and the same. Those who don't know this should have their mouths filled with dirt!' Saying it they gave me this fistful of dirt to throw in the mouths of the idiots who quarrel about it." Vandiya Devan opened his fist to show a handful of dirt.

The second instance, from chapter 12 -

The Saiva gentleman, who objected to having Azlvar-adiyan in the boat, turned towards Vandiya Devan and said, "I let this fellow get in because of you, Thambi. However, as long as we are in this boat he should not utter that eight-letter word. If he says it, I shall demand that he be thrown into this Kollidam! These boatmen are my men!" "Sir! Devout [Azlvar-adiyan]! Did thy hallowed ears hear it?" asked Vandiya Devan. "If this fellow does not utter the five-letter word, I too shall not utter the holy-name of eight-letters" said [Azlvar-adiyan].

-----

There are several things I appreciate about this, in no particular order-

The way the devotees refer to the holy names of the other god, akin to how we nowadays refer to swear words.

Everyone else with no skin in the game is utterly baffled, and they are just saying 'but... why not worship both, since they are both gods?'

Vandiya Devan makes up utter crap without batting an eyelid, he is my new hero now.

[thecagedflightlessbird]

Having completed ponniyin selvan the lack of content in the fandom disappoints me so I'll be making incorrect quotes and drabbles for it.

If you don't want spoilers or are not part of the fandom ignore the posts tagged with ponniyin selvan