The upcoming Mani Ratnam film 'Ponniyin Selvan-1' spells royalty as it uses actual gold jewellery for its characters and was designed keeping in mind the small details of the Chola period. The film, based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 novel of the same name, tells the story of the early days of Arulmozhivarman, who later became the great Chola emperor Rajaraja Chola I.

Talking about the jewellery design of the film, the director of the film, Mani Ratnam said in a conversation with IANS: "We gave special emphasis to the costume to make them believable and lend the period-specific authenticity and still evoke that sense of royalty. We were very lucky to have Kishandas (the jewellery designer) on board with us and we worked with actual gold jewellery."