Director Maniratnam had last directed the multistarrer movie Chekka Chivantha Vaanam released last year, and the movie had a huge cast including Vijay Sethupathi, Simbu, Arun Vijay, Arvind Swami, Jyothika, Aditi Rao Hydari and Prakashraj and the movie was a commercial success.

Following the hit, Maniratnam has started working on his dream project Ponniyin Selvan, the movie adaptation of Kalki Krishnamoorthy's epic novel set in the backdrop of the Chola Kingdom, and this movie is scripted by actor Elango Kumaravel and will be produced by Lyca Productions.

The latest update is that Ponniyin Selvan will have 12 songs with all of them to be written by Vairamuthu and music will be scored by AR Rahman, as said by the poet in a recent interview. Ponniyin Selvan is expected to begin shooting in December and will have Jayam Ravi, Vikram, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai, Jayaram, Keerthy Suresh and many other actors as part of the cast.