Canada Theatre owners receive threats ahead of Ponniyin Selvan release

Ahead of worldwide release, Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan 1 has faced a new problem in Canada after theater owners received online threat against the film.

Tamil films for long have come under threats from local fringe groups in Canada. As theatre owners in Canadian cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, and London are gearing up for the release of Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan 1, many have now received threats against the film screening. The alleged threat came via e-mail and claimed to cause ruckus in the theaters upon the release of Ponniyin Selvan 1.

Aishwarya Rai's poster from Mani Ratnam's film Ponniyin Selvan.

KW Talkies, the overseas distributor of Ponniyin Selvan 1 in Canada, took to Twitter and shared the alleged threat mail. “I have updates from Hamilton, Kitchener and London. All the theatre owners have been threatened with attacks if they play PS1 Tamil or any movie from KW Talkies. Let's see how other places fare,” read a tweet from KW Talkies.

The mail mentioned that if theatre owners play movies that are distributed by KW Talkies including Ponniyin Selvan 1, they will tear up the screen and release 'toxic' in the area. They said they’ll target any movie distributed by KW Talkies that are released.

Meanwhile, the Mani Ratnam directorial is gearing up for a grand release on Friday.Produced by Madras Talkies, Ponniyin Selvan stars Jayam Ravi, Vikram, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Sobhita Dhulipala and Aishwarya Lekshmi among others. It marks Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback to Tamil cinema after a decade. Aishwarya will be seen playing dual roles – Nandini and her mute mother Mandakini Devi.

The film will release in two parts and both have been shot on a budget of ₹150 crore. Mani Ratnam recently revealed that the second part of the movie will be released in six to nine months based on the completion of VFX work and post-production.