Three years back in 2015 Mani Ratnam's comeback film 'Ok Kanmani' was released on the 14th of April and received widespread critical acclaim and became a super hit. The director recovered from his twin debacles of 'Raavanan' (Hindi version) and 'Kadal' and with renewed vigor started pre-prodcution on his dream project 'Ponniyin Selvan'.

The project though not officially announced, went into pre-production with Vijay and Mahesh Babu agreeing to play the male leads and Anushka the heroine.  There was also talks with several heroes including Vishal, Arya and Sathyaraj for other important roles.  After almost seven to eight months of work, Mani Ratnam decided to shelve the project and informed his stars in early 2017about his decision but never made any official statement because the project was under wraps.

What the fans missed was a chance to see Vijay and Mahesh Babu the biggest stars of South cinema in one movie which came so close to fruition.  Writer Jeyamohan who worked on the script later clarified that Mani Ratnam dropped the project because the government did not give him permission to shoot in temples and erecting sets cost in excess of 50 Crore rupees. 

Now ofcourse the climate has changed and South Indian cinema is making great strides in the international market after the stupendous success of 'Baahubali 2'.  There is also great advancement in  computer graphics.  Will this encourage the ace director to revive the 'Ponniyin Selvan' and get Vijay and Mahesh Babu to share screen atlast?