The girls are later revealed to be daughters of Chinnamalai Kozhundhu. One day, the twins save two sisters, Muthaayi ( Pooja Chopra) and Pavalaayi ( Divya Parameshwaran), from death. Ponnar and Shankar are valorous and compassionate to the sufferings of the poor. Many years later, Mayavar ( Nassar), a chieftain of a village in Periyamalai Kozhundhu's kingdom, encounters twin brothers Ponnar and Shankar (both played by Prashanth), who are being tutored in martial arts by Rakki Annan ( Rajkiran).
Periyamalai Kozhundhu disowns his daughter for choosing Nellaiyankondan and banishes them from his kingdom. She later marries her lover, who had come to see her marry Mandhiyappan, and challenges her brother Chinnamalai Kozhundhu ( Ponvannan) to marry his daughters off to her sons (the marriage of cousins is a gounder custom). Thamarai rejects the arranged marriage, angering Mandhiyappan. Thamarai's father, King Periyamalai Kozhundhu Gounder ( Vijayakumar), arranges for her marriage to Mandhiyappan ( Prakash Raj), the ruler of a neighbouring country. The film was later dubbed and released as Prashanth Veer in Hindi and then as Rajakota Rahasyam in Telugu in 20 respectively.Ī love affair between Thamarai Nachiyar ( Khushbu) and her maternal cousin Nellian Kodan ( Jayaram) is poorly received by their family, especially since he is not financially well off. Although praised for its cinematography and art direction, it was criticised for having a weak plot and character deficiencies. The film was released on 9 April 2011 to a mixed response from critics. Prior to its release, the film drew criticism from the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (KMK) Party 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 filming then shifted to Guindy National Park in Chennai, with the battle sequences shot in Kerala and Karnataka. 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 background score and soundtrack of the film, composed by Ilaiyaraaja, with cinematography handled by Shaji Kumar and editing done by Don Max.įilming, 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 also features an extensive cast of supporting actors with Prabhu, Jayaram, Khushbu Sundar, Sneha, Vijayakumar, Nassar, Rajkiran, Napoleon, and Ponvannan, amongst others. It features Thiagarajan's son Prashanth in lead dual roles as warrior princes, portraying the title characters, with actresses Pooja Chopra and Divya Parameshwaran making their film debut as princesses and Prakash Raj as the main antagonist. It is a fictionalised account of the Ponnar Shankar epic, adapted from M. Ponnar Shankar is a 2011 Indian epic historical drama film produced and directed by Thiagarajan.