The trailer of film-maker Mani Ratnam’s magnum Opus “Ponniyin Selvan – Part 1” was released on September 6, 2022.
The film is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s epic historical-fiction Tamil novel Ponniyin Selvan which traces the rise of the Chola empire.
Having a ensemble cast of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, ‘Jayam’ Ravi, Karthi, Jeyaram, Parthiban, Prakash Raj, the film is slated for release on 30 September 2022 in five languages – Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.
One of the main characters of Ponniyin Selvan is Azhwarkadiyan Nambi, a spy who works for Chembiyan Mahadevi and a close friend of Vallavaraayan Vandiyathevan (played by Karthi in the film).
Azhwarkadiyan is also a devout Vaishnavite who often indulges in debates with Saivites and Advaitins.
In the trailer of the film, there is a sequence which shows the caravan in which Azhwarkadiyan is travelling is ambushed and Azhwarkadiyan (played by Jayaram) exclaims.
While Azhwarkadiyan can be heard shouting “Narayana” in the trailer of Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu version, it becomes “Ayyayo” in the Tamil version.
பொன்னியின் செல்வன் எந்தளவு இந்து தர்ம வெறுப்போடு எடுக்கப்பட்டிருக்கும் என்பதற்கு இந்த காட்சியே சிறந்த சாட்சியாக இருக்கும்…
வந்தியத்தேவனும் ஆழ்வார்க்கடியானும் குதிரை வண்டியில் செல்லும் போது
அம்புகளால் தாக்கப்பட பொன்னியின் செல்வன் தெலுங்கு ,மலையாளம் மற்றும் கன்னட ட்ரெய்லர்களில் pic.twitter.com/JaKD9djzYJ— Saravanaprasad Balasubramanian 🇮🇳 (@BS_Prasad) September 7, 2022
The dialogues in Tamil has been written by B. Jeyamohan a prominent Tamil writer. He was formerly a sympathizer of the left ideology and later grew out of it to become Gandhian and nationalistic in approach. Today, he often finds himself at the receiving end of Dravidian Stockists for not antagonizing Hindu faith.
The replacement of “Narayana” with “Ayyayo” in the Tamil version of the film adds to the Dravidian trope of de-Hinduization of Tamil Hindus.
For long, the Dravidian Stockists have resorted to delinking Hinduism with Tamil culture. This has happened with Thiruvalluvar and his work Thirukkural, and festivals like Pongal, Tamil New Year, etc.
The Dravidianization process involves removal of anything and everything Hindu embedded in Tamil milieu by attributing it as a victim of “Brahminical hegemony”. Such secularization of the inherent Hindu aspects help Dravidian Stockists to peddle a separatist agenda. It also becomes useful for Christian zealots to satiate their evangelist itch. This has been elaborately dealt with in Aravindan Neelakandan and Rajiv Malhotra’s seminal work ‘Breaking India’.
The Cholas were staunch Hindus and patrons of the Saivite sect. It is impossible to glorify the Cholas without glorifying Hinduism. Any attempt at portraying Cholas would inevitably instill the Hindu pride among Tamils. However, given that the ruling DMK is know for its anti-Hindu zeal one wonders if the replacement of “Narayana” with “Ayyayo” is a token gesture of Dravidianization of Ponniyin Selvan in order to coax the ruling DMK.
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