By the way, the questioner by asking this question had rather accepted the superiority of SSR, an undisputed legend. RRR minted money, not only in non-Telugu-speaking states but also abroad which was not the case with PS1.

The questioner should also realize that though PS1 did not make a huge profit outside TN, Maniratnam was a legendary director in his prime time. (as generally said by KRS)

Now answering the question.

MR is the perfect director for PS1. To date, SSR has done wonders only with fictional and creative stories where his imagination of the scenes has no limits. He takes 100% liberty of the cinematic freedom given.

For eg… Fictional story where 2 freedom fighters meet before they actually start their freedom struggle ….Housefly is reborn to take revenge…..There is no dearth of fiction and creativity in BahuBali. SSR would have altered the story of PS and made it more fictional and lucrative.

Whereas MR an established legend has directed subtle & sensitive movies like Mounaragam, and Alai Payuthey. Masala movies like Thalapathi, and Agni Nakshatra.

The biographical movie Nayagan which was loosely based on Varadarajan Mudaliar is an evergreen masterpiece. MR is more experienced in making such historical/biographical films(Iruvar).

Of course, Kalki Sir would have taken some literary freedom in writing and developing the characters in PS, and I feel MR has done decent justice in showing the historical novel. he can’t take freedom and alter the story as 50% of Tamilians know the story and would have read the novel…(I am one of them) Moreover, It was MR’s dream.

Had PS1 been made as a web series with multiple seasons and it would have been more popular and made more money.

PS has more than 50 important characters with authentic & complicated Tamil names. Non-Tamil-speaking audiences could not sync into the movie and by the time they were trying to understand the characters, 3 hours is done. Moreover, no one knew the legendary story of PS1 outside TN

Only MR can do justice for PS1 as SSR’s forte is more of a fictional and imaginative genre.