Ponniyin Selvan: I (soundtrack)

The soundtrack featured music composed by Ratnam's norm collaborator, A. R. Rahman. He called Ponniyin Selvan as one of the most difficult projects, since it is an epic film, and required an exhaustive research.^[2] It took him six months to work on the project, and he and Mani Ratnam also went to Bali and Cambodia for writing some of the songs,^[2] However, Rahman had stated the challenging part on scoring the film is that, Ratnam wanted a particular sound, "which is unique but at the same time relatable", adding that he worked hard to get that sound.^[2] Rahman researched on periodic instruments for the songs in tune to the film's setting in Chola period.^[10] During their music session in Bali and Cambodia, he incorporated those instruments from the region and used it in the soundtrack. In a September 2019 interaction with the press, Ratnam revealed that the film will have 12 songs (featuring in two-parts).^[11]

In December 2019, singer Harini confirmed in an interview that she has rendered her voice for one of the songs in the film.^[12] Shreya Ghoshal further recorded one song for the film. Apart from composition, Rahman also sang the track "Ponni Nadhi" for the film.^[10] In a January 2021 interview to Naman Ramachandran of Variety, Rahman said that the entire composition was completed during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. In December, Rahman shared a glimpse from the recording session of the film's songs, through social media platforms.^[13][14] The recording of the songs were completed by early-January 2022, and had submitted the final versions to Ratnam, who was impressed with the songs.^[15]

In March 2022, Rahman composed the film score at the newly constructed Firdaus Studio in Dubai, where he was performing at the Expo 2020, and invited Ratnam to supervise the scoring in person.^[16] The following month, vocal sessions for the film score began at the Panchathan Record Inn studio in Chennai.^[17] Percussionist Sivamani confirmed his involvement on scoring the film in late-June, and shared few behind-the-scenes of the recording through Instagram.^[18]

Singer and social media influencer Antara Nandy, a contestant in Rahman's YouTube show ARRived, made her feature film debut as a playback singer through this film.^[19] She earlier recorded a scratch version of the song "Alaikadal" within 45 minutes and mailed Ratnam for rectifying the song, though no response being received. Later, she was informed that her recording was approved and later was asked to sing the track in Hindi, Telugu and Kannada languages. The recording was finished within a week prior to the film's music launch.^[20] Speaking to The Times of India, Nandy said: "... [Mani] Sir told me one line brief, “I want it to sound like the waves of ocean, it should have ups and downs. It has to flow”. Then Mani sir also explained the scene to me, that, it is a song sung by a strong boatwoman, singing to her love of the life who she’s longing to meet. It has to portray love, a flowy song. Though I knew the lyrics, I didn’t know what each word meant, so I was worried. Rahman sir completely guided me, going line by line. That’s how we recorded the song. After he started guiding, it became so easy."^[20]

Ilango Krishnan, Kabilan, Siva Ananth and Krithika Nelson reported to write the songs for the Ponniyin Selvan: I soundtrack. For the dubbed versions, Mehboob Kotwal, Ananta Sriram, Rafeeq Ahamed and Jayanth Kaikini wrote the song lyrics in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada languages. Initially, Vairamuthu was reported to write all of the songs for the film, continuing the three-decade long collaboration with Ratnam and Rahman. His involvement received criticism from the female peers in the industry, particularly that of singer Chinmayi, who accused him on the grounds of sexual misconduct, led him to be excluded from the project in mid-December 2019.^[21][22] Rahman did not comment about Vairamuthu's exit, as the officials of Madras Talkies made the decision,^[23] while also adding that two of the songs were written by Kabilan.^[23] Several lyricists were reported to be part of the film, including Venba Geethaiyan, who was about to contribute to the songs, but was not officially roped in.^[24] In August 2021, the production executives officially revealed that poet Ilango Krishnan, will write lyrics for the film's songs.^[4] He was reported to contribute for eight songs in the two-part franchise.^[25][26]

Krishnan revealed that, the film's dialogue writer B. Jeyamohan contacted him through text, about his inclusion, and he formally met Ratnam and Rahman in February 2020, who collected some of the works related to Ponniyin Selvan.^[28] For the songwriting process, he read several novels about the works of Cholas' history from prominent Indian historians-authors, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, T. V. Sadasiva Pandarathar, Kudavayil Balasubramanian amongst several others, to ensure no historical inaccuracies. He also re-read classical poems, such as Akanaṉūṟu, Puranaanuru, Kuṟuntokai and Kamba Ramayanam, to refer those aesthetics of Classical and Sangam Tamil poetry, and incorporated modernised Tamil to "bring to life the imagery of the Chola period".^[29]

The song "Ponni Nadhi" was written within a month, while other songs in the album were written within two hours. It was the fourth song at the time, Krishnan had submitted it, who was not aware on being the introductory song for Vandiyadevan.^[28] While writing the track, he used the classical Tamil verses for few of the lines, including the first line from the song describes on "how Kallanai is an attire for Cauvery river that was built by Karikala Cholan 2,000 years ago".^[28] Krishnan revealed that, the significance of the track, is that, it is one of the few songs in Tamil, in the past few years, that did not borrow words from other languages. But, he predominantly "stuck to words with common usages".^[28]

In July 2022, the producers announced that Tips Industries have acquired the film's music rights for five languages at a sum of ₹25 crore (US$3.0 million).^[30] The first single from the film, "Ponni Nadhi" was released on 31 July 2022.^[31][5] The song was released in five different languages—in Hindi as "Kaveri Se Milne", in Telugu as "Ponge Nadhi" and in Malayalam and Kannada under the same title.^[32] A. R. Rahman sung the vocals for the track in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions, whereas Alphons Joseph and Nakul Abhyankar sung the Malayalam and Kannada versions.^[33]

The single was launched in an event held at Express Avenue mall in Royapettah, Chennai,^[34][35] with Jayam Ravi, Karthi and Jayaram in attendance.^[35] Sports personalities, P. V. Sindhu, Sanju Samson and Ravichandran Ashwin released the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam versions.^[36] The same day, A. R. Rahman performed the song live in his concert at Houston, Texas.^[37][38] The making video of the song, was released on 3 August 2022, coinciding Aadi Perukku.^[39] Actor Karthi, who plays Vandiyadevan, said the song is an introduction to his personality, and an introduction to the Chola kingdom. He further described that the song "covers Vanthiyathevan’s entire journey across the kingdom, as he rides his horse along the banks of the Kaveri River (known in ancient times as Ponni river)".^[39] On 19 August, the second single "Chola Chola" was released in five languages under the same title.^[40] The song was described as "an ode to Aditya Karikala's victory and valour",^[40][41] and the "glory and power of Cholas".^[42]

The film's music launch event was held on 6 September 2022 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai.^[43][44] The event saw the attendance of the film's cast and crew, and graced by Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan as the chief guests.^[45] It was preceded by a live performance featuring Rahman's musical ensemble, who performed the film's songs and also other chartbusters from films such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Alai Payuthey (2000), Guru (2007) and several other films, as a tribute to 30 years of Rahman's debut in the film music industry and his collaboration with Ratnam.^[46] The event was not streamed live, but was later telecasted on Sun TV on 25 September.^[46]

The album was digitally released on streaming media platforms on 7 September (a day after the audio launch).^[47] It was also released in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, the same day.^[48]