Director Mani Ratnam is all set to begin shooting his mega-budget multistarrer 'Ponniyin Selvan' reportedly from December 16th in Thailand. The team is said to be in hectic pre-production work to finalize the huge star cast. As per reports, the film has the star cast of Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Prabhu, Jayaram, Parthiban, Keerthy Suresh, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Amala Paul, Trisha, and Amitabh Bachchan.

The latest word from sources close to the 'Ponniyin Selvan' team is that Amala Paul is no longer a part of the project due to undisclosed reasons. However, the Mani Ratnam camp has not officially confirmed any of the castings and this may be mere speculation. The bold and beautiful actress was also on board Vijay Sethupathi's 'Yaadhum Oorey Yavarum Kelir' but was replaced by Megha Akash. Industry analysts are at a loss as to why Amala is consistently losing good films in spite of her critically acclaimed role in 'Aadai' in which she went dress less to do justice to the core theme.