New Delhi, Apr 19 (IANS): Tamil superstar Vikram, who plays the 10th-century Chola prince Aditha Karikalan in the 'Ponniyin Selvan' movies (Part 2 is releasing on April 28), recalled how it was difficult to do action scenes and ride a horse at full gallop outfitted in heavy armour made with leather and wearing period jewellery.

In an interaction with the media in the Capital on Tuesday, Vikram said: "It is very rare for men to worry about hair, jewellery, ear rings and all. We will never envy the heroines again. Mani sir [the film's director, Mani Ratnam] wanted everything to look real, so we wore leather armour, which bruised us when we were doing the stunts.

"And then, horse riding was tough for both Karthi and me as we have back problems. We had major issues for three months. 'Ponniyin Selvan' was not as easy as shooting for any other film."

'Ponniyin Selvan-2', which is releasing on April 28, is based on the Tamil classic, 'Ponniyin Selvan, by Kalki Krisnamurthy. The story revolves around the early life of prince Arulmozhi Varman, who went on to become the famous Rajaraja Chola I. Its principal cast includes Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Jayam Ravi and Sobhita Dhulipala.

Part I of Mani Ratnam's multi-award-winning periood drama set a Tamil box-office record for 2022 by grossing Rs 502 crore.