Ponniyin Selvan 2 movie recently got released in India. This is the second part of the movie Ponniyin Selvan which was released last year. The movie is a PAN India movie where it was released in multiple languages. The movie was directed by one of the greatest directors in Indian history which is Manirathinam. It was a great expectation when there were talks about the movie. Now that both parts are over, I should say that the efforts were commendable.
I want to keep this review very positive but actually, I did not have a positive moment while watching the movie. Some scenes were dragging and the story was very bad. I have to commend the efforts of the screenplay and the visual effects and the places selected for shooting. Those were amazing experiences I should say. The reason is that it is hard to direct a movie that is from several centuries. Historical movies like these take a lot of effort and a lot of thinking.
The movie was based on the book called Ponniyin Selvan. The title of the book was given based on the Tamil King Raja Raja Chola's other name. He was once protected by the river Kaveri which is also called Ponni and that's how he got the name Ponniyin Selvan. Those who have already read the book might find this movie a little disturbing. The main reason is that there have been a lot of changes to the story.
Story and my thoughts
Compared to the first part the second part was a little better when it comes to character registration or continuing with the story. The first part was very fast I should say but the second part of the movie is pretty decent. There were a few scenes in the movie that I thought could have been avoided and maybe they should have included some good scenes instead of that.
One of the biggest drawbacks of Ponniyin Selvan 2 movie is that the story was completely changed for the convenience of the director. The original book did not have many things and the director had included them in the movie. I thought those changes were unnecessary. We have to be very careful with the story and direction especially when a book or history is being made as a movie.
In my opinion, all the deviations from the book should have been avoided. Still, people who are watching these movies directly without reading the book might enjoy the movie but they may not understand the whole picture. I recently got a review from my cousin. He hasn't read the book and doesn't know about this story. He thought he can know everything from the movie itself but unfortunately, the movie did not help him. He couldn't remember any of the important characters in the movie. Even people who read the book found the character registration challenging.
Still a good movie
Even though I have lots of different thoughts about the story of the movie, I liked the way the movie has been taken. Especially how the direction and screenplay have happened. The story is the only part where they had missed it. The director has added things in the movie that was not specified in the book. Other places that were a direct replica of the story in the book were excellent. Seeing it visually is a great experience I would say. I would recommend watching this movie at least once and especially in a big theater to experience the effects of the movie better. They have spent a lot of money to produce this movie and I still think they have done some justice I would rate 7 out of 10 for this movie. Even though they have made lots of changes to the story, the movie still shows the greatness of Tamil Kings and Tamil culture.
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