It was staged in Chennai and other southern Indian cities last June to packed houses. The last one saw of Ponniyin Selvan was through a play, helmed by Pravin and organised by Magic Lantern. Such was the integrality of Selvan and his story. In southern India, Krishnamurthy became synonymous with Ponniyin Selvan or The Son of Ponni, and the story and its macabre machinations haunted the dreams, the desires and the dread of just about every household. Serialised by Krishnamurthy in his magazine, Kalki, the plot popped out of the pages week after week from 1950 to 1954, catapulting the circulation to dizzy numbers. Planned for a January 2017 opening, Ponniyin Selvan in an animated form will reach out more easily to the young, who hardly ever read these days - and hence have very little knowledge about India's rich political and cultural history. Saravanaraja, an animation expert, told the media that pre-production work on the film had already begun. To be directed by P Saravanaraja and M Karthikeyan, the movie will tell the historical story of Emperor Raja Raja Cholan (of the Chola dynasty). The legendary Tamil journalist and author, Kalki Krishnamurthy's celebrated 2400-word novel in five volumes, Ponniyin Selvan, will be made into an animated film.

Kalki tamil movie 2017