Daddy's Epic

Ponnar Shankar, an upcoming Indian epic film adapted from a novel of the same name by M. Karunanidhi, a fictionalized retelling of the Ponnar Shankar epic. The film is directed by Thiagarajan and features his son Prashanth in lead dual roles as warrior princes Ponnar and Shankar with Pooja Chopra and Divya Parameshwaran making their film debuts as princesses. The film is based on true story about KONGU NADU.The film also features an extensive cast of supporting actors with Rajkiron, Napoleon, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Sneha and Kushboo amongst others.

'Prashanth had entered into films very early and since then I've always wanted to do something big for him. The story of Ponnar - Shankar had immense scope for exhibiting not just his acting skills but also his expertise in the Martial Arts. I approached Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, with the project and he immediately gave me the go ahead, 'says Thiagarajan.

'The star cast comprises some of the biggest stars in the industry and to assemble them all on the sets was quite a challenge. If I got the call sheets of one actor, another would be busy shooting somewhere else. Another challenge was shifting the war battalions from one location to another. Moreover, to give an authentic touch, I have avoided graphics as much as possible.

So, in one scene, if you see a clash of 10,000 horses, in another, you will see 2000 dancers in action. The war and dance sequences will surely be talked about,' claims the directorm being very happy about the way his project had shaped up.

Discussions for the production of Ponnar Shankar had been ongoing since 2007 and filming started in August 2009. The film has progressed slowly due to the difficulty of fixing schedules to feature all the supporting cast together, and is expected to release in April 2011.