S.S. Rajamouli’s team released two new character stills of Priyanka Chopra Jonas from Varanasi on Saturday, marking her birthday with a glimpse of cinema’s costliest bet. The images show her as Mandakini, one lead in a film built to be the most expensive ever produced in India. Neither the actor nor the director will know whether the wager pays off for another nine months.
Every entertainment outlet is running the same two photos this weekend. What gets skipped is the arithmetic underneath them: a director rebuilding his own Oscar-winning formula at nearly triple the budget, and a star returning to Indian cinema by way of a Hollywood run that has been big, expensive and only partly convincing.
Two Portraits, One Enormous Wager
The stills themselves are simple, tightly lit character portraits distributed to mark Chopra Jonas turning a year older. The casting mechanics behind them are not. Mahesh Babu, the reigning Telugu superstar anchoring the project, plays a dual role as the protagonist Rudhra and the Hindu god Rama. Prithviraj Sukumaran, a leading star of Malayalam cinema, plays the antagonist Kumbha.
Rajamouli has said Mandakini needed a specific range that narrowed his casting options fast. “She can be a really kick-ass girl, and she has to be really vulnerable,” he told Variety. “Very few actors who can do both in the same character. She did a fantastic job, and I’m so happy that I have her on board.”
The project itself has been decades in the making. Mahesh Babu has said he waited more than fifteen years for a Rajamouli collaboration, first meeting the director long before the Baahubali franchise remade Indian box office economics. Varanasi opens worldwide on April 7, 2027.
A Story That Runs From 512 CE to Antarctica
Rajamouli is not making a linear film. Varanasi jumps across eras and continents, anchored by a cosmic-artifact chase that pulls its hero through mythic and modern timelines alike. The production’s own shoot map reads like a stunt in itself:
- 512 CE in ancient Varanasi, the story’s historical anchor point
- 7200 BCE during the Treta Yuga, the mythological period tied to the Ramayana
- Present-day Antarctica, filmed on the Ross Ice Shelf, making Varanasi the first Indian production to shoot there
- Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Amboseli National Park, standing in for the film’s African wilderness passages
Chopra Jonas has said the access Kenyan authorities granted the production around wildlife was something she had never experienced on a film set before. Even the villain carries mythological weight: Kumbha, confined to a mechanized wheelchair with robotic arms, is reportedly built as a modern echo of Kumbhakarna, the Ramayana figure who fights Rama in the epic’s most brutal battle sequence.
A Hollywood Résumé That Never Fully Landed
Chopra Jonas frames Varanasi as the only project that could pull her back to Indian cinema after a stretch of Hollywood work that includes Citadel and The Matrix Resurrections. That framing only holds up if the Hollywood chapter is read honestly, and it is a mixed one.
Citadel cost a reported $300 million for its first season and drew a Rotten Tomatoes critics’ consensus that called it a caper that “creaks under the weight of its own exorbitance.” Season 2 premiered in 2026 to warmer reviews, but two international spinoffs were already cancelled before it even arrived. Amazon’s own promotion at launch called Citadel the streamer’s second most-watched original series outside the United States, a real hit dogged by budget anxiety ever since.
If there was any way of coming back to Indian cinema, it would be with the biggest Indian movie being made, and that undertaking is this film. I think Sir’s vision is unlike anyone in this country or abroad. His cohort, if I may say so, is the Spielbergs of the world, the Nolans of the world, the Finchers of the world.
Chopra Jonas said that of Rajamouli, calling the project career-defining. She has not stepped away from Hollywood to make it. The action film The Bluff, co-starring Karl Urban, premiered on Prime Video in February 2026, and Deadline has reported she is attached to the survival thriller Reset with director Matt Smukler once Varanasi wraps.
How Big Is a ₹1,400 Crore Bet?
Varanasi’s estimated budget has climbed across trade reports, from roughly ₹1,000 crore early in production to ₹1,400 crore (about $165 million) in the most recent estimates, a figure that would make it the most expensive Indian film ever produced. That number only means something next to what came before it.
| Film | Reported Budget | Worldwide Gross | Release Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baahubali 2: The Conclusion | ₹250 crore | ₹1,788 crore worldwide | 2017 |
| RRR | ₹550 crore | ₹1,275 crore (lifetime, with rereleases) | 2022 |
| Varanasi | ₹1,400 crore (~$165 million) | Not yet released | 2027 |
Each Rajamouli film has cost roughly double its predecessor. Varanasi breaks that pattern entirely, nearly tripling RRR’s budget in one jump. The producers are betting that global scale itself, an Antarctic shoot, rebuilt ghats, IMAX-grade effects, can draw an audience no previous Indian film has reached, without a Hollywood studio underwriting the risk.
Rajamouli’s Own Rematch With History
RRR made Rajamouli an international name, becoming one of the top five highest-grossing films in Indian history and, per trade reporting, the first Indian film to win an Academy Award, when “Naatu Naatu” took Best Original Song. MM Keeravani, who wrote that song, has returned to score Varanasi, and Telugu media has floated Oscar ambitions for the new film too, though nothing has been confirmed by the studio.
Rajamouli has never been precious about release dates when a film needed more time. Baahubali, Baahubali 2 and RRR were all pushed back at different stages for visual effects work, the pandemic or production demands, and he has said he will delay again if it protects a film’s impact. Even his most loyal collaborators feel the weight of this one. “It was intimidating because of the kind of film he was trying to attempt,” Mahesh Babu has said of hearing Rajamouli’s narration for the first time. “I was a bit nervous.”
The pressure is not just internal. Chatter around a rival mythological epic’s shaky visual effects has already pulled Varanasi into the conversation, with audiences openly expecting Rajamouli to clear a bar no one else in Indian cinema has managed yet.
A Release Date With No Safety Net
RRR did not conquer the world on opening weekend. It built its audience slowly, expanding from a handful of U.S. screens into a word-of-mouth phenomenon that eventually helped carry it to an Oscar, after already becoming a hit in India months earlier. Varanasi will not get that runway. It is set to open in every major market on the same day, a first for a Rajamouli film and a bet that the reputation built by RRR travels ahead of the movie itself.
That plan has its own hazard. Warner Bros.’ Godzilla x Kong: Supernova is due in the same window, and trade reporting has flagged the fight for premium IMAX screens as a genuine complication for Varanasi’s global rollout.
What We Know:
- Varanasi opens worldwide on April 7, 2027, day-and-date, in standard, Dolby Cinema and IMAX formats, unlike RRR’s staggered international release.
- Principal photography began in February 2025 across Hyderabad, Odisha, Kenya and Antarctica, with major IMAX action sequences already completed by mid-2026.
What’s Unconfirmed:
- Whether the April date holds if Godzilla x Kong: Supernova and other Hollywood tentpoles crowd IMAX screens the same month.
- Whether Varanasi mounts an awards push the way RRR did once “Naatu Naatu” broke through internationally.
Rajamouli’s team has so far shown no sign of moving, insisting shooting is on schedule with roughly 80 days of principal photography left as of earlier this year.
The Ugadi 2027 Deadline
Varanasi’s release date was not chosen at random. April 7, 2027, coincides with Ugadi, the Telugu new year, timing the film to the one weekend of the calendar built for exactly this kind of event picture. That is the day Chopra Jonas’s comeback, Rajamouli’s follow-up to an Oscar, and every rupee of a ₹1,400 crore budget all get measured against the same opening numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Varanasi Be Split Into Multiple Films?
No. Despite a story spanning thousands of years and several continents, Rajamouli has said Varanasi will be told as a single film with no plans for a sequel or a multi-part structure, unlike the two-film Baahubali franchise.
What Languages Will Varanasi Release In?
The film opens in its original Telugu with same-day dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. T-Series holds the Hindi distribution rights, while AA Films controls North Indian theatrical rights.
Is Citadel Getting a Third Season?
It has not been confirmed. Citadel’s second season premiered on Prime Video in 2026 to warmer reviews than the first, but as of its debut, Amazon had given no word on whether the series would continue.
What Is Priyanka Chopra Jonas Doing After Varanasi?
She is not leaving Hollywood behind. Deadline has reported she is attached to the survival thriller Reset with director Matt Smukler, expected to begin filming in August, on top of Citadel’s continuing run and the already-released action film The Bluff.
