Ponnar Shankar, also known as Kalaignarin Ponnar-Shankar, is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language historical action drama film produced and directed by Thiagarajan. It is a fictionalised account of the Ponnar Shankar epic, adapted from M. Karunanidhi's novel of the same name. It stars Thiagarajan's son Prashanth in lead dual roles as the titular warrior princes, with Jayaram featuring in an important role alongside debutantes Pooja Chopra and Divya Parameshwaran, and Prakash Raj as the main antagonist. The film also features an extensive cast of supporting actors with Prabhu, Khushbu Sundar, Sneha, Vijayakumar, Nassar, Rajkiran, Napoleon, and Ponvannan, amongst others.
Filming, although significantly delayed, began in August 2009 at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai, where an ancient township film set with temples, forts, a lake and palaces had been built. The film's producers encountered difficulties in making prompt payments to its crew that consisted of more than 1000 members during the filming in the forests of Pollachi. The filming then shifted to Guindy National Park in Chennai, with the battle sequences shot in Kerala and Karnataka. The background score and soundtrack of the film was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with cinematography handled by Shaji Kumar and editing done by Don Max.
Prior to its release, Ponnar Shankar drew criticism from the Kongunadu Munnetra Kazhagam with an unsuccessful petition filed at Madras High Court seeking a ban on the film, claiming that it portrayed the traditional deities of the gounder community in a bad light. The film was released on 9 April 2011 to a mixed response from critics. Although praised for its cinematography and art direction, it was criticised for having a weak plot and character deficiencies.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
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