Vikram Vedha director Pushkar on clash with Ponniyin Selvan 1: ‘You can’t beat that…’

September 30 will see the clash between two films at the box office, Gayatri-Pushkar’s Vikram Vedha and Mani Ratnam’s period drama Ponniyin Selvan 1. While the budget, scale and target audience of the two films differ, there’s much discussion about the upcoming battle at the box office.
Vikram Vedha, a crime thriller, stars Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan, while Ponniyin Selvan has a star-studded cast that includes Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Vikram, Karthi, Jayaram Ravi and others. Based on Kalki’s novel, PS1 is a fictionalised account of the turbulent days in the Chola Empire during Rajaraja I’s reign.

Pushkar and Gayatri, directors of Vikram Vedha, are not looking at the clash as a box-office battle. At a press conference, Pushkar said, “Ponniyin Selvan is a classic text, a tale of intrigue set during the Chola Empire. You can’t beat that. It’s a six-volume book that I read back in the day. That text has been an inspiration for every writer coming out of Chennai. We do our part and they have done theirs. Let’s hope people go and watch both the movies. I think Friday-Saturday or Sdaturday-Sunday. I’ll be going and watching that movie for sure.” Hrithik added that he would just be paying attention to his film, while Saif requested the audience to watch both the movies.
Vikram Vedha sees Hrithik Roshan as the dreaded gangster Vedha, while Saif Ali Khan plays the role of the policeman, Vikram, who has to track Vedha down. The film, a remake of the Tamil hit of the same name, also stars Radhika Apte and Rohit Saraf.