Actor Arya is currently busy gearing up for the release of his Malayalam-Tamil bilingual Ananthan Kaadu. Recently, at a press meet for the film in Kerala, the Mr X actor was asked about the yesteryear Ponniyin Selvan project he was roped in for in the 2010s.
Arya said, "Yes, I was cast in Ponniyin Selvan when Mani sir was thinking about making it back then. Vijay sir and Mahesh Babu sir were also a part of the film. However, it got shelved, and we got the new adaptation with a different cast."
Ever since Arya revealed this, the clip has been virally making the rounds on social media. While it has now been revealed that there was a version of Kalki's adaptation that featured Vijay and Mahesh Babu, do you know what roles they were roped in for?
In a 2011 interview with the Banglore Mirror, Vijay revealed that he was cast in Ponniyin Selvan to play the titular role, also referred to as Arul Mozhi Varman or Raja Raja Chozhan. The roles of Mahesh Babu and Arya are not confirmed, but it is reported that the former was set to play Aditha Karikalan while the latter would play Vallavarayan Vanthiyathevan.
Anushka Shetty, Vikram, Vishal, Sathyaraj and even Priyanka Chopra's names were added to the casting speculations back when Mani Ratnam was working on the adaptation. However, it was shelved due to a budget constraint, as revealed by author Jeyamohan, later on.
Even before Mani Ratnam's attempt to bring it to screen in 2010, there was an attempt in the late 1980s, where he collaborated with Kamal Haasan. While Sathyaraj and Prabhu were cast in key roles, the project was shelved then too due to budget issues.
Eventually, the roles of Arul Mozhi Varman, Aditha Karikalan and Vanthiyathevan were taken on by Ravi Mohan, Vikram and Karthi in Mani Ratnam's 2022 magnum opus. The film was released in two parts and opened to largely positive reviews and commercial success.
