SS Rajamouli reveals Mahesh Babu channelled Lord Rama in 'Varanasi' sequence that took 60 days to shoot

Highlights

• Rajamouli says the Varanasi Ramayana sequence grew beyond what he first imagined
• Mahesh Babu’s Rama-inspired look shook the crew on the first day
• Teaser leak blamed on a rogue drone during technical checks
• Priyanka Chopra returns to Indian screens with a major role
• Team spent 60 days filming one stretch, each section treated as its own unit

The Varanasi Ramayana sequence sits at the heart of SS Rajamouli’s new fantasy adventure, and he did not hide how much it took out of him. Speaking at the title reveal in Hyderabad, the filmmaker said the stretch pulled him straight back to a childhood dream about filming the Ramayana, while still having to solve the grind of a modern, high-budget shoot.

SS Rajamouli speaks about filming the intense Varanasi Ramayana sequence with Mahesh Babu X/@imdeepakdwivedi/Getty Images

Why the Varanasi Ramayana sequence pushed Rajamouli so far

Rajamouli said he never thought he would get to frame a Ramayana moment this early. The idea came while he was shaping the script, and each pass pulled him deeper. He called that Ramayana block the kind of work that stays with you for years.

On the first day, Mahesh showed up in the Rama-style outfit for a quick shoot, and the room went still for a beat. Rajamouli said he froze for a second, then laughed at himself later for turning the photo into his wallpaper before deleting it out of fear it might leak.
The shoot ran for 60 days. He called every sub-episode a film of its own. Different teams, fresh plans, and fixes on the go. Some days ended early, some dragged past midnight, but the structure held.

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How Mahesh Babu’s presence shaped the shoot

The director said Mahesh carried “the charm of Krishna and the calm of Rama.” Mahesh, playing a character named Rudra in Varanasi, is shown in the teaser with a trishul and a stillness that sets the tone. Short bursts of Africa, icy shots from Antarctica, and flashes of Lanka tie into a global chase, but the Ramayana stretch sits as its own block.

The teaser leak that rattled the team

Rajamouli addressed the leak directly. A drone had caught test footage the crew was running the night before the event and posted it online as if it were a Netflix drop. The director was not angry so much as tired, “one year of hard work”, he said. They had set up a giant LED installation, pulled in more than 45 generators, and still could not run a clean rehearsal. Even at the reveal, the teaser failed twice before loading on the third try.

What is next?

They are working towards a 2027 release. The teaser alone has stirred a pile of guesses, some about the timeline, some about the mythic flashes tucked in between the action shots. Rajamouli did not clear any of it up. He just told the room to wait for the full story.