Since the Ponniyin Selvan book was illustrated by Maniam, there are a wealth of images to rely on for the costumes of the movie. The book itself was a historical romance and there is some liberty and a bit of imagination in the illustrations. There is a definite 50s aesthetic in the illustrations, often mirrored in the movies of the time.
There are a large number of the illustrations on the web and loads of comparison posts too. Still I felt like digging into my old posts to see how the movie’s costumes compared.
Pic 3 (of Kundavai and Vaanathi) is from a blog, the author has translated Ponniyin Selvan. The excerpts give an idea of the novel for anyone interested.
As an aside, I am disappointed that they didn’t use the ketaki flower (pic 5 of Poonguzhali) since almost all the illustrations for the character feature it.
