Varanasi Has Only 10 Days of Shoot Left: Rajamouli

SS Rajamouli has offered his clearest production update yet on Varanasi, the pan-Indian epic that has been built up as one of the most ambitious Indian films on the calendar. Speaking from Brazil, where he attended the 50th São Paulo International Film Festival and received the Leon Cakoff Award, the director told Brazilian film portal Oxente Pipoca that filming is nearly complete.

Nearly 10 days from a wrap

Asked directly how much shooting remains, Rajamouli gave a rare, concrete answer: “Nearly 10 days, and then the shooting will be done.” The production expects to wrap by the end of this month, with the remaining schedule planned as originally announced.

He also confirmed that Varanasi will release in Brazil. That detail underlines how Indian cinema is no longer treating international markets as an afterthought, especially after the global footprint of his previous film RRR.

Not the sci-fi it may appear to be

The genre clarification is the most useful piece of this update for fans reading early reactions and speculation. Rajamouli said that while the film may feel like science fiction, it is not one. Instead, he described Varanasi as a fantasy with mythological elements.

He also sketched the emotional spine: a father-son relationship that begins broken and is later restored, plus a romance between a young man and a woman. That emotional core, rather than spectacle alone, appears to be what the director wants audiences to latch onto.

Rajamouli framed the scale in his usual grand terms. Making Varanasi was like bringing six or seven films together into one, he said. “Bringing them all together into a single film was our biggest challenge.”

What the timeline now looks like

For Hindi film fans, the update makes the wait feel concrete. Varanasi is targeting a 7 April 2027 theatrical release, and with principal photography nearly done, the focus will shift to the long post-production phase that a film of this scale demands.

The essentials:

• Leading cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Prakash Raj
• Producers: KL Narayana and SS Karthikeya
• Music: MM Keeravaani
• Release target: 7 April 2027

The São Paulo appearance itself matters. Being honoured at one of Latin America’s key film events and confirming a Brazilian release signals that Varanasi is being positioned as a global theatrical event, not just a domestic one.

That global positioning also raises the stakes for the coming months. With shooting nearly done, every update from here on will likely revolve around post-production, music and marketing beats rather than production logistics.

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