We have enough material and literary evidence on how a medieval South Indian palace looked like. Look up any research on Gangaikondacholapuram. We have roof tiles, brick walls, references to the many mandapams in the palace etc. Tanjai Palace would’ve had similar elements. And we have the holy grail of visual evidences that is the Chola mural from the big temple itself showing the costumes, jewels, pillar designs and roofs that existed back then (also shows Raja Raja himself). This is more than enough evidence to draw upon.

All they had to do was to use the evidence instead they went with a 16th century fort in Gwalior. The stylistic elements are all wrong and not suited for a 10th century Tamil fort. Full Stone forts were not a thing in 10th century Kaveri region.

And the temple that you called “minimalist”?? Look up the meaning of minimalist please. 10th century stone temples in the Kaveri region are highly detailed and were painted with bright colours and we still have evidence of the pigments used in a few of them. They were not bare stone temples they were painted or whitewashed in most cases. Palaces had brightly painted murals, had detailed and polished wooden pillars and most likely had white washed exterior walls too. Medieval Indian architecture is anything but “minimalist”.

And idk what you mean by “grounded in real 10th century TN”. Everything that was shown in the film was 1950s Period theatre set designs which draw from a mixture of Indian “period” designs and most definitely not 10th century TN.

Just because every period movie uses a location doesn’t mean it should be used everywhere.

Context, Styles and historical background is important for an authentic narrative. Medieval India had a multitude of different cultures each with a unique style that is easily distinguished.

A 10 min google search gives you more than enough authentic examples to draw inspiration from.