Watch: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan touches Rajinikanth’s feet at 'Ponniyin Selvan: 1' trailer launch

Bollywood actress and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is finally returning to the big screen after a long hiatus with Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus 'Ponniyin Selvan: 1'.

The makers along with Tamil superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan released a fantastic trailer of the film at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

'Ponniyin Selvan: 1' is a cinematic adaptation of author Kalki Krishnamurthy's Tamil novel of the same name which was released in the form of a series during the 1950s.

Now, a viral video shows Ash coming forward to meet Rajinikanth and touching his feet. However, the superstar stops her midway and hugs her instead.

Watch the clip below.

During the trailer launch, Rajinikanth said: "'Ponniyin Selvan' has three heroes. The first is the late writer Kalki. The next is producer Subashkaran and the third is Mani Ratnam.

"Written 70 years ago, the epic novel was so popular that when it was published in small parts by a fortnightly vernacular magazine over a period of five years, people would wait for the magazine to hit stands to get their copies to follow the story. The demand for the magazine was on par with the demand for tickets for a hit film. Such was the impact of the novel."

For those unversed, Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai had starred together in the 2010 sci-fi film 'Robot' (Enthiran). Directed by S Shankar, it also featured Danny Denzongpa, Santhanam, and Karunas in supporting roles.

Meanwhile, the beautifully cut trailer of 'Ponniyin Selvan 1', which was released just 15 minutes before midnight on Tuesday, promises a glorious film that narrates the story of India's greatest empire, the Cholas.

Aishwarya will be seen in dual roles. She will play queen Nandini, the princess of Pazhuvoor, who is on a mission to seek vengeance, as well as Mandakini Devi in the historical drama.

The trailer shows Nandini looking to thwart Aditya Karikalan (Vikram) and Arunmozhi Varman (Jayam Ravi) from joining forces. She says to her husband: "We have to ensure that Arunmozhi Varman and Karikalan do not join forces."

The film also stars Sobhita Dhulipala, Karthi, and Trisha.

The brilliant trailer has heightened expectations from the film, the first part of which is to hit screens on September 30 in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.