Chennai, Mar 2 (IANS): The first part of director Mani Ratnam's much-awaited historical extravaganza 'Ponniyin Selvan' is to hit screens on September 30 this year, its makers Lyca Productions announced on Wednesday.

The production house, while wishing its chairman Allirajah Subaskaran on his birthday, tweeted, "Wishing our Chairman Allirajah Subaskaran a very happy birthday! The Golden Era comes to the big screens on Sept 30th!"

It also released the first look poster of the film along with the tweet.

The film is based on the classic Tamil novel 'Ponniyin Selvan' by eminent writer Kalki.

The brilliant story, that revolves around the early life of prince Arulmozhi Varman, who later on went on to be known as the great Raja Raja Chozhan, is one of a kind.

The film, dubbed by Mani Ratnam as his dream project, features a host of top stars including actors Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Trisha, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, Jayaram, Parthiban, Lal, Vikram Prabhu, Jayaram, Prabhu and Prakash Raj. The project will be among the most expensive ever undertaken in the country.

The film has the best in business handling each of its departments. A.R. Rahman is scoring the music for this epic historical and cinematography is by Ravi Varman. National Award-winning art director Thotta Tharani is in charge of production design while Mani Ratnam's trusted editor Sreekar Prasad is handling the editing.