Amala Paul reveals why she said NO to Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan:"Not in the mental state"

Director Mani Ratnam's upcoming magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan has been making quite some buzz. The eagerly awaited film stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Trisha, Sarath Kumar and Aishwarya Lekshmi and others. Actress Amala Paul has now revealed that the film was first offered to her but she refused to do it.

What went wrong with Ponniyin Selvan

Paul revealed that Mani Ratnam had auditioned her for the film. She added that when that didn't work out she was quite sad and disappointed. "So, Mani Ratnam sir auditioned me for Ponniyin Selvan and I was so excited for that. I am a huge fan of Mani sir and I was so excited for it. And that didn't happen at that time. I was so disappointed and sad," Amala told TOI.

"Then in 2021, he called me for the same project. And like I said, I was not in the mental state to do it, so I had to turn it down. If you ask me if I regret doing that, I won't, because certain things are just perfect. It's perfectly designed and I think it's just about how we look at," she further said.

Decision to take a sabbatical

It was in 2019 that Amala had shocked her fans and followers with the news of her sabbatical. The decision had left industry people also shocked since Amala was at the peak of her career back then. In the same interview, Amala had revealed that the decision did not come from a place where there were any lack of offers. She added that infact that was the phase when she was receiving some of the best work offers but she decided to take a break owing to her mental state.

Amala said that she was exhausted and had been working since she was 17 non-stop. She calls her sabbatical her washing machine phase where she worked on shedding off all that baggage and stress.