(This article is authored by Alar)

Trisha Krishnan and Jayam Ravi are two of the most incredibly popular actors in the South. They are currently gearing up for the release of their upcoming magnum opus, ‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’, directed by the legendary Mani Ratnam. The film is based on a historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy, and chronicles the rise of Rajaraja I, one of the greatest rulers of the Chola dynasty.

As part of the film’s promotion, the actors decided to change their Twitter handle names to their characters’ names in the film, Jayam Ravi as Arunmozhi Varman, the future Rajaraja I, and Trisha as Kundavai, his elder sister and a powerful princess.

However, this seemingly harmless move backfired on them, as they lost their verified blue ticks from their Twitter accounts. The actors were unaware of this consequence when they changed their names, and were surprised to find out that they had lost their verification status.

Speaking to the media in Delhi on Tuesday evening, Trisha said: “I don’t know how it happened. We were supposed to change our names according to our characters and that is what Ravi and I did. Now, I don’t know how we lost the blue tick. Maybe some technical glitch. Our team is working on getting it back.” She also revealed that Twitter was “refusing to let us purchase it because we had changed our names”. She said: “We tried doing it but it says suspicious activity.”

Twitter, which has strict rules for verification, does not recognize these names as belonging to the real actors. Jayam Ravi, on a lighter note, wittily said in Hindi, "Twitter is verifying our character before it gets down to verifying our character names.” 

‘Ponniyin Selvan 2’ is slated to release on April 28, 2023. The film also stars Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Prabhu, Sarath Kumar and others in pivotal roles, slated to hit theatres by April 28th 2023. The film produced by Madras Talkies and Lyca Productions, and composed by AR Rahman.