Tamil Movie Review Ponniyin Selvan: Part II - Cast & Crew

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a popular Indian actress and is a high-profile celebrity in India. She was born on November 1, 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India to Krishnaraj, an Army Biologist and Brinda, a homemaker. She has one brother named Aditya Rai, an engineer-turned-producer, who produced her film Dil Ka Rishta in 2003. Her family shifted to Mumbai and she studied at Arya Vidya Mandir High School during her early years. She later attended Jai Hindi College and moved to DG Ruparel College in Matunga, where she scored 90% in the Higher Secondary School Certificate. During her teenage years, she trained in classical dance and music for 5-years. Initially, she planned to pursue a career in medicine, but it didn’t work out. She then took an architecture course at the Raheja College of Arts, but she decided to pursue a modeling career and so gave up on her studies.

Born on 4th May, 1983 in Palakkad by Krishnan and Uma Krishnan as her parents. Before starting her carrer in modelling and acting, she did her schooling from Sacred Heart Matriculation school in Church Park and then BBA from Ethiraj College for Women (Chennai). She entered into film industry after making a mark as a model and winning several beauty pageants like Miss Salem and Miss Madras in the same year. In 2001, she won Miss India Pageant “Beautiful Smile” award. She got her first acting break in Tamil film Jodie. After that, she got her first lead role in Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002) opposite Surya and won critical acclaim.

Aishwarya Lekshmi is an Indian actress who has worked in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil movies. She has acted in many movies of these film industries. She is best known for her movies like ‘Rasukutty’, ‘Butterflies’, ‘Gardish’, ‘Aambala’ and many more. She has been a part of many Malyalam television series. She was born in Chennai as Shanta Meena Bhaskar. Her father K Bhaskaran was a Malayali and mother Lakshmi was a Tamil actress. She was interested in the film industry as she grew up watching her mother working hard in the industry and got inspired to become an actress. She debuted with the movie ‘Nyaayangal Jey Kattum’, a Tamil movie in 1990.

Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker deeply rooted to mainstream Indian cinema. His all films have garnered commercial success. This great filmmaker successfully combined features of both art and commercial cinema, an early example of this was ‘Roja’( a love story that gets lost in country’s terrorism issues), which was both a commercial and critical success. It paved the way for a new wave in Indian cinema too. Man Ratnam became thus one of India’s most successful filmmakers, who also reflected the changing middle-class-ethos (Alaipayuthey).

Ravi was born in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. By profession, he is a cinematographer. Also, he penned the script and directed one movie. He has got some nominations and awards for his brilliant works. With a connection to the South Indian movie industry, he also has worked in Bollywood, and his work won acclamation. His great zeal for literature helped him to create a magazine (online) named Yavarum Kelir. His interest in photography is linked to the death of his mother, who he lost at a very young age.

A. R. Rahman is a Legendary Music Composer, prominently known for his rocking music for the movie “The Slumdog Millionaire”. He had won a couple of Oscars for this album and made India proud.  Allah-Rakha Rahman’s birth name is A.S.Dileep Kumar. He was born on January 6th, 1967 in Chennai. His music journey had begun at the age of 4 when he learned piano. At the age of 11, he joined the Maestro Ilayaraja's troupe as a Keyboard player. He made his debut as a composer with the legendary film-maker G.R.Maniratnam’s film “Roja” which came out in 1992. Some of his popular music albums were for the movies like Rangeela, Bombay, Dil Se and Lagaan: Once upon a time in India.

Rahman also known as Rashin Rahman, is a famous South Indian Actor born on 23 May 1967. He was born in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. and his native is Nilambur in Malappuram District, Kerala. He studied in Baldwin Boys High School in Bangalore, Rex Higher Secondary School in Ooty and did his college from M.E.S Mampad College, Nilambur and St.Joseph’s Abu Dhabi. He got married to Mehrunnisa in 1993. The couple have two children namely Rushda and Alisha. Rahman’s wife’s elder sister , Saira Banu is married to Oscar winning music director A.R. Rahman. He has acted in more than 150 films in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil movies.

Rahman made his debut with the Malayalam movie, ‘Koodevide’ in the year 1983 with famous Actress Suhasini as the heroine. The movie was very successful and he received several offers from the top directors of the Malayalam industry. He never had to approach any directors for any particular role in a movie as he had several directors knocking at his door with apt roles. However, he feels that he did not take this as an advantage to rise in his career. Since he made an early debut, he had a very good opportunity of working with many great directors and producers. He was also considered a chocolate hero of Mollywood. After his debut with Suhasini as the Heroine, he worked with her again after a long gap of 25 years for the Tamil movie, ‘Balam’

In 1986, Rahman acted in his first Telugu movie named ‘Rasaleela’. One of his biggest hits in the Telugu Industry was ‘Bharat Bandh’. After a long gap, he appeared in a Telugu movie named ‘Dhairyam’ in 2005. Later, the Telugu version of the Malayalam movie ‘Abhraham Lincoln’ was released in Andhra Pradesh which was well received by the audience. He next appeared in Muthyala Subbayya’s ‘movie ‘Aalayam’ and the Telugu remake of the movie ‘Billa’. In 2010, he acted in a movie named ‘Simha’ which was one of highest grosser of the year. He has also received several awards such as State Award for Best Supporting Actor, Chamber Award, Film Critics Award, Kerala Film Chamber Award for Best Actor, Award for being the trend setter in the history of Malayalam cinema.

The Rahman Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Prabhu Ganesan or better known as Prabhu is a prominent Indian entrepreneur, producer, comedian and actor who mainly appear in Tamil films. He was born on December 25, 1956 in Chennai, India. His mother is Kamala and his father, Sivaji Ganesan is a stage and film actor during the 20th century. Prabhu is the father of Vikram Prabhu, who is making a name in the Tamil film industry. After his debut in the 1982 film, Sangili, the actor started to play leading and supporting roles, which gained him the Best Actor in Lead Role Award by the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards in after donning a brilliant performance in the Tamil film, Chinna Thambi in 1991.

Karthik Sivakumar, or popularly known as Karthi, is a prominent film actor, who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He was born on May 25, 1977, in Madras, Tamil Nadu, India, to Tamil actor, Sivakumar and Lakshmi. He studied at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and later attended St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai. He obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Crescent Engineering College in Chennai. Post graduation, he started working as an Engineering Consultant in the city and pursued higher education abroad. During those times, Karthi was earning 5000 every month, until he thought that he wanted to do something more. He had his scholarship in the USA and studied at Binghamton University in New York, where he took Master of Science in Industrial Engineering. While doing his masters, he also studied filmmaking. Karthi worked as a graphic designer for a short period of time in New York, and then, he decided to pursue his career in film direction. He took two courses at the State University of New York and studied basic filmmaking.

Vikram is from the Tamil family. His father is Christian and his mother is Hindu who lives in madras, Tamil Nadu. He was born on 17th April 1966. His father also ran from his home in the hope of becoming an actor but he does not get succeed so he trained his son and make him learn classically and cinema dance form so that he could become a good actor. He is known for doing acting in the Tamil movies. He has done plenty of the Tamil movies and he also got the award for many of them. He has got many awards like ‘national film award', ‘honorary award’ and he also got the award from the people’s university of Milan. His first film in which he has done the acting was “kadhai kanmani” in the year 1990. It was a small budget Tamil movie. And the film which got popular and got loved by the people is “set” which got release in 1990 and because of this movie” Vikram” got started his career in as an actor.He has also done many of the great films which also got famous and been loved by the people they are ‘Dhool’ , ‘Saamy’ and these of the movies become venture. He has also done the diverse role in many of the movies as he has also done the role of a blind villager in the movie “kasi” and also done the role of Robin Hood in the movies “Saurai”. He has also got national film award for acting in the movie “Pithamagan” and has done the role of gravedigger. He has also done a great role as a lawyer in the movie “Anniyan” and also got a critical acclaim. He has also done a great role of a bodybuilder in the series of many movies and also got great reviews from the critics for this reason. He has also done a many of the social works in his life as he is also a brand ambassador of the school for the special kids and also the ‘Sanjeevani’ trust.

Born on September 10, 1980, Jayam Ravi’s original name is Ravi Mohan. He made his debut in the Tamil film “Jayam”. He got the prefix “Jayam” since it was his first film. Most of his films are directed by his brother Raja. Some of the films this duo worked together are “Jayam”, M Kumaran-Son of Mahalakshmi”, “Santhosh Subramaniam” “Mazhai” “Thillalangadi” etc.

Jayam Ravi entered the Tamil film industry during the year 2003. A fact not known to many is that Ravi made his debut as a child artiste in a Telugu film. This film was under the banner of his father Editor Mohan. Later, as a youngster, he acted in the film “Jayam” which was directed by his brother Raja. The film was a huge hit and Tamil film industry welcomed him warmly.

Jayam Ravi is a good dancer and he had studied dance when he was just 12. Also, he is skilled in martial arts. The film “M Kumaran-Son of Mahalakshmi” was a turning point in his career and he was widely appreciated by both critics and audience. This film fetched him the Best Actor Award in the Tamil Nadu State Film Award.

Jayam Ravi’s flick “Das” saw him as an action hero and the audience again accepted him. “Idhaya Thirudan”, “Das” Deepavali” Peranmai” Nimurnthu Nil” were some of the films of Jayam Ravi wherein his brother was not the director. His film “Unakkum Enakkum” directed by his brother was a huge hit. Jayam Ravi was the right choice of a playful boy turning matured in the film “Unakkum Enakkum”. Jayam Ravi and his brother Raja worked in many films which were the remake of Telugu films. Most of these films were hits.

Jayam Ravi is gifted with good looks and he took every effort (formal training) to become an actor. His recent film “Thani Oruvan” is again directed by his brother Raja. This film is a direct Tamil film. Jayam Ravi is undoubtedly one of the finest young talents in Tamil film industry.

The Mohan Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Prakash Raj, born on 26th of March, 1965, as Prakash Rai, in Bangalore, is an actor, director, and producer. He is also a television presenter and has worked in films of many languages. He is best known for his work in the film industry of South India, and for playing roles of a villain in quite a few Bollywood films. He hails from a Tulu and Kannada-speaking household and is fluent in various other languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. He also has an actor brother named Prasad Raj. He studied at St. Joseph’s Boy’s School, and subsequently, at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Both institutions are in Bangalore. Prakash has three children, Meghana, Pooja, and Sidhu, from his earlier marriage to the actress Lalitha Kumari. His son, unfortunately, passed away in the year 2004. He is currently married to the choreographer Pony Verma. In the first few years of his career, he worked in Kannada Doordarshan, doing serials like Guddada Bhootha, and he also acted in supporting roles in Kannada movies like Nishkarsha.

Sarathkumar is famous south Indian film actor. He is also a acclaimed journalist, politician and film critic. He was born and brought up in Delhi. He has acted in more than 150 Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada movies. His debut performance was in a Telugu movie “Samajamlo Sthree” whose producer was his friend. His character was having negative undertones. The film was a block office failure and didn’t create appreciation.

While he was working in Chennai, he got the opportunity to work in Tamil movies. He cast the role of a business man in “Pudu Padagan”. His appearance in “Velai Kidaichuduchu” was also noted. The film tells the struggle of youth to end up with a job. The film received good response and was declared a box office hit.

He also made a magnificent performance in the move Pazhassi Raja, directed by Hariharan. This was his debut performance in a Malayalam film. The film was well received and a box office hit.

Elango Kumaravel is an Indian artist and script representative. He is also a co-founder of the Chennai-based theatre organization Magic Lantern. He is a graduate of Sankaradas Swamigal School of Performing Arts from the Pondicherry University He also runs the Chennai-based theatre seminar Koothupattarai. He has also served as a casting associate for the 2007 movie Loins of Punjab Presents and penned the script for the 2008 movie Kattradhu Kalavu. He was  included in the product of Ey Aa O! a musical union work of collaboration among Indian folk and traditional musicians.