Is Mani Ratnam planning a sequel to Roja before Ponniyin Selvan?

Roja was the first movie of Mani Ratnam which earned him popularity and respect across the country. The movie introduced actor Arvind Swami as a hero and AR Rahman made his debut as a music director.

The movie won plenty of awards and remains a milestone in Mani Ratnam's career. Now, there are rumours doing rounds that the ace filmmaker is now prepping up for a sequel to this classic film. Yes, Tamil media is abuzz with the speculations of the filmmaker working on the project before his magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan.

The director has already completed two schedules of shooting of Ponniyin Selvan. The next schedule was scheduled to commence in Puducherry. However, the lockdown across the country to prevent the spread of Coronavirus aka COVID-19 has delayed its progress.

Trade analysts and industry insiders are of the view that production house are taking measures to reduce the cost. There is a belief that it is not the right time to make mega-budget movies due to looming economic crisis.

As a result, Mani Ratnam might have possibly decided to do a moderate budget film with Arvind Swami in the lead. However, there is no official word on the film, yet.

Ponniyin Selvan, Mani Ratnam's a Long Time Dream
Ponniyin Selvan is a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name. It has been a long-time dream of the filmmaker to bring this novel to celluloid. Several years ago, he had roped in Vijay and Mahesh Babu to play the lead roles. However, the project did not materialise and it was put on backburner.

It got a new lease of life, but with a different cast. In the latest project, Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Trisha, Vikram Prabhu and many others are part of the cast.