The question posed by our Prabhu came across to my mind as well. After watching AO, the interest to know what really happened to the Chola dynasty kept bugging me.
I know that AO was more of a fantasy than historically correct. Nevertheless, coming back to the historical facts, was there a final war between the Pandyas and Cholas? Wikipedia states there was.
"By 1250 CE Rajendra III (the last Chola King) began his strenuous attempts at regaining some of the lost prestige and started his painstaking program of recovery. Inasmuch as the entire system of the Cholas was becoming degenerate. We hear of cases of serious treason, subversion, infiltration, impostorism and misappropriation from inscriptions. He attacked the Pandya country and killed two of five Pandyan princes and made the rest "mortally afraid of him". One inscription at Vennainallur claims how he "was pleased to adorn his feet with the severed head of Pandyan" and another at Ranganathaswamy temple, Srirangam in 1249 CE describes "how he made the Canarese king Someshwar, a very representative of age of Kali fall to his feet for mercy during war and assumed title destroyer of wickedness of age of Kali".
I guess this is what Anita (Reema Sen) in AO was referring to when she tells the Chola King (R.Parthiban) "I know how cruel you (The Cholas) were to us (The Pandyas)."
"This sudden rising tide of Pandya power once more brought the Cholas and the Pallavas together. They gave battle to the Cholas and in 1279 CE, this was the last war that we hear of Cholas and Pallavas. Both of them either perished in this war or disappeared from scene altogether but gallantly. Rajendra-III towards the end of his time and that of the Chola lineage, was forced even though owing more to personal resource crunch than to his unwillingness to fight enemies, to defensive against the Pandyas. The guerrilla tactics employed by all his enemies had much to do in this. In 1264 CE the last Pallava chief Kopperunjingan fought and killed the Canarese king Someswara[1], though in his inscription at the Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan I claimed to have vanquished Hoysala Someshvara. The Pandyan king finally turned against the resourceless and weakened Cholas and Pallavas. Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan it seems met the Cholas somewhere between Tiruchy and Thanjavur and claims in his inscription to have destroyed both Uraiyur (the old capital of the Cholas) and Thanjavur in a single day. It seems he led his forces up to Gangaikonda Cholapuram and destroyed the Chola fort and caused extensive damanage to the outer wall of the temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram. These acts, it appears, effectively it signalled the end of the Chola Kingdom along with that of Pallavas, for we do not hear of any Chola or Pallava king at either Gangaikonda Cholapuram or Kanchi, respectively, even though certain Tribhuvanaviradeva of Chola line briefly ruled between 1331 and 1332 before disappearing completely from the scene. However, the known period of rule of Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan was between 1246 or 1251-1268 after which he was succeeded by Maravarman Kulasekhara, assisted by his son Jatavarman Vira Pandiyan, while the rule of Rajendra-III was definitely up to 1279 AD. It appears after routing the Cholas and absorbing all their territories, the Pandya kings concentrated on their other conquests, while the Chola king ruled in and around either Uraiyur or Gangaikonda Cholapuram for the next twenty or twenty five years before vanishing from the scene altogether, thus signaling the demise of the greatest dynasty to have ruled South India."
Reading the article, is it safe to say that after the last war, Rajendra III might have sent his descendants away, in order to survive the war? The idea of them living like barbarians and spending centuries in some island in Vietnam (as depicted in AO) is definitely far-fetched. Nevertheless, could there have been any truth in Selvaraghavan's idea of saying that the Rajendra III's descendants were sent away in hiding during the war?
Since wikipedia seldom gives authentic facts (the fact that it can be edited by anyone proves the lack of importance that the site gives to authentic news.) , I didn't want to place much importance in the above article. Nevertheless, It would be helpful if our learned friends can help to enlighten us with the facts of this matter.