'School-level history needs proper knowledge about the indigenous dynasties', says PS2 actors 

The second part of Ponniyin Selvan was released in the theatres on Friday. Based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's novel, the film was helmed by veteran director Mani Ratnam and starred an ensemble cast including Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram and Karthi, among others. As the film follows the story of the Chola dynasty, in an interview with IANS, the Ponniyin Selvan actors mentioned the absence of India's indigenous empires or dynasties in our education system compared to the dynasties that arrived in India as a part of the conquest.

Talking to IANS, Aishwarya Lekshmi said, "From what I know, yes, there has been some level of unfairness towards the indigenous empires of India. It would take a lot of research to get a little bit of information about them in that direction. Kalki's novel  is actually a window to the 10th century of southern India, how progressive we were at that time and how much chasing westernisation led us to go back in time."

Actor Vikram seconded Aishwarya's as he feels that Indian society was quite progressive back then for its time. He said: "At that time, America wasn't even discovered, and we had thriving societies under different empires."

Karthi, who plays the role of Vallavaraiyan Vandiyadevan, mentioned that school-level history needs proper knowledge about the indigenous dynasties," I'm sure a history student would know a lot more about each dynasty as per their specialisation. But, for school-level history, a proper panel of intellectuals should sit and decide what should be included in the course material to give a holistic view."