Varanasi: Father-son and love drive Rajamouli’s Rs 1,400 cr epic

The heart comes first, the spectacle second

SS Rajamouli is not framing Varanasi as a straightforward time-travel adventure. At the 50th São Paulo International Film Festival in Brazil, where he received the Leon Cakoff Career Award, the director said the film is now in post-production and offered a clearer sense of what will hold its many worlds together.

According to Rajamouli, the journey moves through Antarctica, Africa, the city of Varanasi, different time zones and a mythological realm filled with giants and gods. But those locations are the canvas, not the story.

“Everything is driven by the emotion of a father and son, and the emotion of a man and a woman…the love between them. That drives this entire adventure scheme.”

That is a familiar, dependable Rajamouli move: build an enormous visual event and anchor it in a personal relationship. In his best-known work, a family bond has typically powered the set pieces, and this film appears to follow the same instinct. For audiences, it is a useful lens: the scale is there to be enjoyed, but the film will likely ask you to feel before it asks you to be wowed.

Who is in Varanasi, and where does it go?

The multilingual film stars Mahesh Babu as Rudhra, Priyanka Chopra Jonas as Mandakini and Prithviraj Sukumaran as Kumbha, the antagonist. Here is what the source confirms so far:

• Status: In post-production as of late October 2026.
• Worlds: Antarctica, Africa, Varanasi, multiple time zones and a mythological space of giants and gods.
• Release: A worldwide theatrical release is scheduled for April 7, 2027, in multiple languages.

The reported budget sits in the range of Rs 1,300–1,400 crore, though the makers have not officially confirmed that figure. Either way, this is being positioned as a pan-Indian, globe-trotting event film.

Why Rajamouli is showing, not telling

Rajamouli also explained why he has not laid out the plot beat by beat. He said words do not do justice to the scope of the film. That is why a glimpse was released last year—one that walks audiences through the film’s worlds without narrating the story.

For filmi fans, the practical takeaway is clear: if you want to understand the texture of Varanasi, watch the official glimpse rather than hunting for a detailed synopsis. The director is deliberately protecting the story and asking the imagery to do the selling.

That restraint also keeps the emotional core—father and son, and a man and a woman in love—from being flattened into a logline. Expect the marketing to lean on spectacle, while the film itself, if Rajamouli’s comments hold, will lean on family and romance.

What this means for the fan experience

For Total Filmi readers, the reveal resets expectations for a film that could otherwise look like a special-effects tour. Rajamouli has built his reputation by making mythic action emotionally legible, and a relationship is usually the engine under the set pieces.

The combination is also a reminder that a huge reported budget is not a genre. Anticipating Varanasi means tracking two things at once: the worlds shown in the glimpse, and the relationships the director has now confirmed will drive them. If that balance works, this could be another film where the biggest moments are intimate rather than merely oversized.

Source: The Times of India