Ponniyin Selvan: 2 is the sequel to the epic historical action adventure film directed by Mani Ratnam, who co-wrote it with Elango Kumaravel and B. Jeyamohan. This is the final part. The film is produced by Ratnam and Subaskaran Allirajah under Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, it is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s 1955 novel, Ponniyin Selvan.

PS – 1 was largely unimpressive despite a strong star cast and brilliant technicians as it took a long time for the staging and the characters to be established. The second part continues from where it left resulting in culmination of the story. Not surprisingly the film continued in the same vein as 1 in terms of pace but there is intense drama here and despite the languid pace there is some interest in the developments on screen. The writers having decided not to pump pace in the proceedings go for a long drawn-out narration that has very few lifting moments. The sequences are bland, especially to people who have no clue about the book and can feel rushed in terms of comprehension. The climax is pushy and hurried and actually feels like this is where the action begins. But then you are left with some footnotes to assume the rest.

The ensemble cast do what’s expected out of them. They stick to the scope and keep their performance aligned to the narrative . Karthi gets boring. Vikram does well. Jeyam Ravi is OK. Aishwarya Rai is average. Trisha is standard. The rest of the cast do what is expected.
Ravi Varma’s cinematography is the highpoint and scores over the rest. ARR doesn’t surprise and delivers a very average background score that relies more on sound than instruments. Dialogues are decent. Editing by Sreekar Prasad if OK. Direction by Maniratnam is standard.

PS – 2 is more Adithya Karikalan and less of Ponniyin Selvan !!

PONNIYIN SELVAN 2 – PORUMAI !!

2.25/5

B.U.Shreesha