Filmmaker SS Rajamouli, the blockbuster movie director behind global hits like RRR and Baahubali that redefined Indian cinema’s scale and caught Hollywood’s attention, has unveiled his most ambitious film yet.
Known for blending mythic storytelling with grand action and imaginative choreography, Rajamouli announced his latest film – and its title – at an event Saturday in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, where thousands of his cheering fans thronged to catch a first glimpse.
While details about the plot of the film Varanasi – previously code-named “Globe Trotter” – remain under wraps, the nearly four-minute video showed a visually rich time-travel adventure that draws parts of its storyline from Hindu mythology. The film borrows its title from the Indian city considered Hinduism’s spiritual heart.
Rajamouli said the film will be projected in cinemas in IMAX format and is expected to be released in 2027.
“Here you go… VARANASI to the WORLD…” Rajamouli wrote on X.
At the event, he alluded that one of the film’s sequences draws from “an important episode” from the Ramayana, a Hindu religious epic based on Lord Rama’s life.
For Varanasi, Rajamouli has assembled a star-studded cast, headlined by Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Having attained fame as a Bollywood superstar, Chopra Jonas returns to Indian cinema with this film after several Hollywood projects. A film poster shows her as the character Mandakini, in a mustard sari with a pistol in hand as she balances on the edge of a cliff.
Varanasi is Babu’s first collaboration with Rajamouli. The first look shows him as a fierce warrior covered in blood and riding a white bull with a trident in hand. Babu indeed made his entry onstage Saturday atop a mechanical white bull.
“It is a once-in-a-lifetime project,” Babu said after unveiling the teaser in Hyderabad’s Ramoji Film City, the throbbing heart of Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood. “I will make everyone proud. The whole of India will be proud of us.”
