Director Mani Ratnam, who had last directed the superhit Chekka Chivantha Vaanam is next directing the magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan which is the on screen adaptation of Kalki Krishanmorrthy's novel of the same name and the shoot of this movie is progressing at a rapid pace in Hyderabad.

Reportedly, Maniratnam has been ensuring that the shooting starts at 8 am and the team is wrapping up the shooting only by 11pm. The movie has a huge star cast including Karthi, Vikram, Trisha, Jayam Ravi, Aishwarya rai, Aishwarya Lekshmi and has music by AR Rahman and the movie is made in two parts.

As per reports, Ponniyin Selvan is all set to complete its shooting by March 5, as almost 70% of the shooting has been already completed. It has been said that the ambitious project is made on a whopping budget of 500 crores, jointly producedby Madras Talkies and Lyca, and is eyeing a Diwali release.