'RRR's Director Is Building India's James Bond Replacement With a Star-Studded New Action Movie

1 week ago 9

Published Feb 3, 2026, 11:00 AM EST

Summary

Collider's Steve Weintraub sits down with the stars of S.S. Rajamouli's next upcoming blockbuster, Varanasi.
From the director of RRR, Varanasi is an action-adventure film that spans across the world, through time, and is set for release in April of 2027.
In this interview, stars Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Prithviraj Sukumaran discuss filming, sharing the first teaser with fans, the defining roles of their careers, and working on Varanasi.

In 2027, audiences across the globe will return to the world of acclaimed filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, the director behind RRR, for another epic adventure. Varanasi is led by Mahesh Babu (Pokiri), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (Citadel), and Prithviraj Sukumaran (The Goat Life) in an extraordinary tale that spans time and place.

Varanasi is an action-adventure filmed for IMAX that, according to its official synopsis, "takes place over thousands of years and in locations around the world from Antarctica to Africa to the titular city in India." As of right now, little else is known about the plot of the movie, aside from its comparisons to the iconic James Bond and Indiana Jones franchises.

To dig into the behind-the-scenes details while in India, Collider's Steve Weintaub sat down with the three leads to discuss their experience on the Varanasi set, filming for over a year and a half in prep work and on location, capturing Rajamouli's unique, massive-scale vision. In this interview, Babu, Chopra Jonas, and Sukumaran reflect on their careers and the role that changed their lives, discuss what it was like sharing the first-ever teaser for Varanasi with thousands of fans, tease details about their characters, and share details about working with Rajamouli, from his classical filmmaking techniques to his love for villains. For the full conversation, check out the video above or the transcript below.

'Varanasi's Stars Reflect on Their Most Career-Defining Roles

"Every film changes your mindset."

Poster art featuring Mahesh Babu as Rudhra on the back of a bull with a trident, shouting.

COLLIDER: It was a really amazing experience seeing the footage in front of so many fans. I can only imagine what it was like for you three. I have a lot of questions, but I like asking a few curveballs at the beginning. These are harmless, I promise, and the first one is: What is your favorite Indian food?

MAHESH BABU: Mine is good old Hyderabadi chicken biriyani. I love it.

I had it yesterday, actually. It was quite good.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS: Hyderabad has incredible food. I love the chicken briyani, too, but I'm a big fan of chaat. Chaat is Indian street food. That's my favorite.

BABU: She can eat anything.

CHOPRA JONAS: [Laughs] He’s just jealous because he can’t.

PRITHVIRAJ SUKUMARAN: When you say “Indian food,” it's a bit like saying “Indian cinema.”

CHOPRA JONAS: It’s so diverse.

SUKUMARAN: There's no Indian food. The same foods in different parts of India are very, very different. So, me, I come from a seaside town in Kerala, so I've grown up with a lot of seafood. I love rice and fish curry from back home. That's my comfort food.

CHOPRA JONAS: The Kerala fish curry is clutch.

With the things you've mentioned, do you like to cook, or is it something that you just like to eat?

BABU: We like to eat.

CHOPRA JONAS: He answered for all three of us.

You guys have all done a ton of projects throughout your careers, and I'm really curious which previous project changed you the most as an actor, or maybe even as a human making something, and the impact it had on you.

BABU: Just to get back to your question, a ton of projects? No. He's done a ton of projects.

CHOPRA JONAS: He’s done, like, 100 movies.

BABU: This is my twenty-ninth film.

Khaleja-actor-Mahesh-Babu-portraying-Raju-playing-with-a-child

Still, that's a lot of stuff.

BABU: Yeah, but I’ve been acting from…

CHOPRA JONAS: How old were you when you started?

BABU: Twenty-four.

CHOPRA JONAS: No, you started as a kid, as well.

BABU: Yes. I started from the age of four.

CHOPRA JONAS: He was four years old when he started making movies. [Laughs]

BABU: So the film that’s changed me is this.

CHOPRA JONAS: He said before this one, Mahesh.

BABU: I mean, every film changes, to be honest. The film that changed was Pokiri. It made me a star, so obviously that changed me. This was in 2006, and that film was a huge hit. It changed so much for me that I literally got confused after that. I didn't know what to do. It's because you go through a phase where the expectations of the audiences are so high that you literally go into a space where you don't know what to do next. That happened to me. So, every film changes your mindset, but nothing like what I'm experiencing right now with this film. I mean, it's something else.

CHOPRA JONAS: I've had a few, I feel. I took a few pivots in my career, and each one kind of changed me. I don't come from the movies or the movie business, or had any aspiration to be an actor when I was young. My parents were doctors. I come from a really academic family. I loved watching movies, but I never thought in my head that that was an actual profession that a person could do at that time. So, I kind of got thrown into it after winning a beauty pageant. So, my film school was a film set. Everything that I've learned, I've learned from filmmakers that I've worked with, co-actors that I've worked with, and I still consider myself a student.

Fashion was a really early film for me, which changed me. There was another one called Barfi!, which was a really difficult character and undertaking to take on, and apparently edit it successfully. Then, when I pivoted and went and started working in the West, the culture of filmmaking is completely different, and then trying to navigate that. So, I feel very privileged to be challenged and take on challenges, and then come back to do a Telugu film. I don't speak the language, I don't understand the language, so I had to phonetically memorize and understand each word to be able to banter in the movies. Improvisation’s really tough, so I lean a lot on the director, but I love that as a challenge, and hopefully I'll be able to pull that off well.

I'm confident.

CHOPRA JONAS: I try. [Laughs]

SUKUMARAN: As an actor, you realize that in every film, there is something you learn, unlearn, you discover. Sometimes you learn what not to do. Sometimes you learn what to do. Every film is a lesson. So, it's pretty impossible to pick one film that is a standout for you.

But since you asked the question, recently, there's a film called The Goat Life, Aadujeevitham, on Netflix, which really pushed me as an actor for multiple reasons. One, for what the role was about. It was about someone who gets stranded in modern-day slavery in a desert in Saudi Arabia for three years. I just had to completely transform myself physically and everything. The shoot got stuck in the middle of the pandemic, and the entire crew, myself included, were in the desert for three months, not shooting, just stuck there, and finally had to come back on a flight back to India, and then, a year and a half later, go back to Jordan and then Algeria and then finish the film. So, the process plus the character, there were a lot of lessons there for me. It's called The Goat Life. It’s streaming on Netflix now.

Interestingly enough, from the US, one film that I should talk about is something I did back in 2014, where I played an Atlanta Department police officer, [in Ivide]. It was shot in Atlanta. I played this Indian boy who was adopted as a teenager by an American couple who grows up in Atlanta and becomes a police officer there. I realized back then that that was the first time I was trying to root a character in things that I did not know at all. So, as an actor, you try and associate moments of your character arc with things you’ve experienced in your life, people you have seen around you, literature you've read, maybe films you've grown up with. I had none of those crutches for that character. So, I had this wonderful experience of actually speaking to policemen in Atlanta. The typical policeman that an Indian actor would imagine is so far different from your American or Atlanta PD sergeant or captain that it was really interesting for me to be truly swimming, not knowing which way I'm headed. That was very interesting. That was also a film that I think I learned a lot from.

'Varanasi's 3-Minute Teaser Took 12 Months to Make

The cast admit they were shocked by how much the trailer reveals.

I hate asking a generic question, but nobody knows anything about the movie beyond this little bit that we’ve seen in the teaser trailer…

CHOPRA JONAS: That was a lot more than I thought we would see, actually.

Then I’ll switch it to this. What was it like for the three of you seeing that footage? How much did SSR [S.S. Rajamouli] tell you about what would be in the trailer, and how much were you, when you guys were sitting there in front of however many fans were there, seeing things for the first time?

BABU: We knew about exactly what he wanted to show. We started work on the teaser a year ago. The three-minute video footage, which you saw, took 12 months for the team to do. So, we knew exactly. Usually, he gives a press conference and tells the story of the film. So for this film, he didn't want to do that because the scale of the film was so big. So he said he wanted to do a three-minute video teaser which tells you the exact story of the film.

It blew our minds when I first heard the presentation of the teaser, of what he was going to do. So, finally, when the whole VFX was done and when I saw it, I was blown away. So, the feeling that I got when I saw it with the crowd was, whoo, I still have the goosebumps.

A giant is silhouetted by the sun, seen rushing toward a tower of humans with an archer at the top.

It has to be almost like a musician, like a rock star. It had to feel that way walking out with that many people going crazy, or maybe I'm wrong.

CHOPRA JONAS: No, you're not. India loves its movies, and Indian fans are very, very loyal and are not afraid to show their love wherever in the world you might go, and especially for Telugu cinema. Mahesh can talk about it a little bit more, but these kinds of events are not uncommon. It happens often, but never so early. It usually happens when the movie's releasing. But to do it so early, a year or something out before it even comes out, was spectacular.

Also, that screen that we had is the biggest screen in the world. So, to be able to show the three minutes of each chapter of the movies, what that trailer shows you is where the movie travels, every part of the travel of the movie, and there are so many Easter eggs, which I know a lot of fans have already started speculating about. Some of them have a lot of it right, which is terrifying. I was like, “How did they figure that out?” But they're, like, zooming in!

That was really incredible. Like Mahesh said, we knew what he wanted to make, but to be able to see it with the euphoria and the energy of that many fans that had been waiting for such a long time to get a little glimpse, and then to be able to see the scale of all of our characters and the journey of the movie, from 2000 BC to 2027, it's amazing. So, it was really, really cool.

I love IMAX. It's my favorite format, and you guys are filming this in IMAX. Is IMAX a huge thing in India? Do a lot of fans go to IMAX? What does it mean to you guys to be making this in IMAX?

BABU: It is catching up now, for sure. It is. The experience of watching it on a big screen is something else, and so if the right film comes for IMAX, the experience is going to be unbelievable. By the time our film comes out in 2027, there are going to be more screens, and it's going to be big.

I truly can't wait.

The stars discuss Rajamouli's passion for villains and a challenging moment on set.

A man sits with a group of people around a bonfire, lifting his hand in the air.

I'm going to ask you an individual question, if you don't mind. What do you want to tease about the wheelchair and your character?

CHOPRA JONAS: And how comfortable was it? How much fun was it?

SUKUMARAN: I could fall asleep in it. [Laughs]

BABU: Just because you said that, there was this one day of shoot when he was in his wheelchair — he couldn’t move, the poor guy — and he had a very long monologue happening, and there were these flies sitting on his face. Literally, the poor guy, he couldn't do anything about it, and he was actually praying to the flies. He said, “For this one shot, please don't come near me.”

CHOPRA JONAS: Because he's incapacitated, so he can't move his limbs.

BABU: I think they heard his prayer because they didn’t come near him for that shot. He just prayed, and bingo, the flies were gone.

SUKUMARAN: Yeah. To make sure that I don't involuntarily move my hands and legs, my hands and legs are kept, not tight, but sort of locked in place by a mechanism where I can truly then be sure that, “Okay, whatever I do, I'm not going to be moving my hands or legs,” which then also means that in case a fly comes around my nose...

CHOPRA JONAS: If you want to itch your nose, you need somebody else to do it.

SKUMARAN: [Laughs] Yes.

BABU: The first day, I got my dialogue wrong, and so I put my hand [on his knee], and I said, “Sorry.” He's like, “That's not my leg.” [Laughs]

SUKUMARAN: So, I'm in the wheelchair, and there is a lot more to it than what you would think from that one picture you saw. Because of who he is and because of the mind that this character has, the wheelchair, in a way, is an extension of his personality. The wheelchair, in a way, is an extension of how his mind works, and he's a dangerous man. He's a very dangerous man who's just physically incapacitated. His mind works in very, very unpredictable, dangerous ways. The wheelchair is set up in a way where it almost connects directly to his thoughts, you know? So, I'm not going to elaborate further. The wheelchair is not just a prop. It is very much an extension of who Kumbha is.

Prithviraj Sukumaran as Vardha looking serious and stoic in 'Salaar'

SSR comes up with very good antagonists. He's talked about how much he loves his antagonists.

BABU: I have an elephant memory. I remember everything. So, before he narrated the story to me, it was one of our early meetings…

CHOPRA JONAS: And that's like 15 years?

BABU: No, no. It was during RRR. He had come home to my place for lunch, and then we were just discussing, and he said what kind of film he wanted to make. We hadn't zeroed in on the script yet. Then, he finished lunch, and he said, “Do you have anything in mind? What kind of film do you want to do with me?” And I was like, “What do I tell you?” I mean, his vision is so big. What do you tell to SSR? So he left, and I messaged him, and I said, “I'm just really happy doing this film with you, and I love the way you present your heroes. You really love your heroes.” And he said, “Thank you, but I love my villains more.” That was the message he sent. This is exactly what he said. He said, “Thank you. I love my villains more.” So, I didn't know how to react. I just put a smile and said, “Okay!”

SUKUMARAN: I think he loves his villains more because that is the ultimate prop for a filmmaker to truly elevate the hero, is to make the villain as scary as possible.

CHOPRA JONAS: The bigger the villain, the bigger the hero.

SUKUMARAN: Yeah. It's a classic. It would be like the classic James Bond formula. The scarier the villain, the bigger the hero becomes.

CHOPRA JONAS: We’re just trying to make you feel better. You don't want to feel better? That’s fine.

SUKUMARAN: Yeah, I was trying.

The 'Varanasi' Stars on Why Their Movie Took Over a Year and a Half to Film

"Once you're mentally prepared, I think it's quite easy."

One of the things that’s so different about this film and making this film is that in America, a small movie might shoot for 20 or 25 days, and a big movie might be 100 days. You guys have been filming this for a year and a half or longer. I don't know what the final thing is going to be. What is it like as actors to be making a film for so much of a part of your life? It's a huge commitment of your time, your energy, and everything.

BABU: You need to be committed. It's a long period of time. It's two years, so you need to be mentally prepared for that. Once you're mentally prepared, I think it's quite easy. She keeps asking me, she says, “How are you doing this? You need to do more film.” I said, “I'm fine.”

CHOPRA JONAS: For you, it's been, like, five years you haven't done anything because you had prep for this movie for a year.

BABU: Three years. Don’t make it five. Is it five? [Laughs] Am I missing something? Did somebody tell you it was five? Three years. Three years is fine. I mentally prepared. Then, once you're committed, it's a very enjoyable process.

SUKUMARAN: But I also think such long commitments usually seem cumbersome only when it seems like there is no activity taking place or when you're not involved with the actual film. With Rajamouli Sir, even when you say one year or one and a half years, that does not mean we are shooting every day of those one and a half years. Plus, all through as actors, we are constantly engaged. We are probably in rehearsals or test shoots or testing. If you ever have an opportunity to see how we shoot, you realize that the pace is frenetic.

On set, if you come to a Rajamouli shoot, it's not like anybody is sitting around. Some days, we hardly get five minutes to get a bite in between for lunch, and then you're back on set shooting. So, the shoot base is frenetic. It takes so long because of what he is trying to achieve, because of the sheer ambition and scale of the vision. Some days, we might be from morning, 7:30 to 6:30, we might be trying to get that one shot, and at 6:30 we could be at take 94, and we'd be like, “Okay, that's a wrap. We are going to try this again tomorrow.” We've done that.

CHOPRA JONAS: It’s complicated camera movement. So, so many things are happening at the same time. But also, just for context, production schedules are different in Indian films than they are in America. We shoot a lot here with every set or every location. So, you shoot for 25, 30, 60 days, say, for example, you shot that, and then you take a break for a little bit while the other one gets set up. So, the commitment for actors is usually a long time. This film is, like, times X of that, just because of the vision of it.

'Varanasi' Is Zero "Gimmicks" and All "Grand Visuals and Sheer Scale"

The director takes a relentless approach to getting the perfect shot.

A giant creature bounds forward with a fleet of humans moving across its tail.

One of the things I love about SSR’s movies is the way he uses slow motion so brilliantly. He told me how all those slow-motion shots are figured out way in advance. I would imagine all three of you are going to have moments of slow motion. What has he told you about your shots, and how excited are you to be in those shots?

BABU: The beauty about him is he does not explain the technical aspect to the actors. He does not say, “This is a slow-motion shot.”

CHOPRA JONAS: We are not supposed to know that.

Oh really?

CHOPRA JONAS: Yeah. He's supposed to know that and he handles it.

So he doesn't tell you.

CHOPRA JONAS: I mean, we’ll hear it if he’s like, “46 whatever…” We'll hear if he says 48 frames or something.

BABU: But most of the time it's like, “I want the expression like this. I want you to do this.” He explains what he wants, and then you do it, and then it's like, “Okay.” And then you hear a, “Nice.” And then you hear, “Very nice.” If you hear “very nice,” that means you can pump your fist. You've given a brilliant shot. So, it's usually like that. That's how it should be, also, because it's not our job to know.

CHOPRA JONAS: Our jobs are to know our characters and not more than that. He really protects his actors and our minds and our sensibility when we're working. I mean, I love a good slow motion, of course.

BABU: But the one common quality all of us have is that I don't check the monitor, neither does she, and I don't think he can check.

He's trapped in his chair.

BABU: Even if he wanted to, he can’t check the monitor. So, none of us has this habit of going and checking the monitor. Once the shot is done, we are done.

SUKUMARAN: We are very, very secure that way because we know that if he said, “Okay, next shot,” that “okay” is okay.

BABU: Initially, she was like, “Okay? Is this nice? Is it okay? I'm assuming it's nice…” Then she would hear “nice,” and she would get excited.

CHOPRA JONAS: We count who gets more “nices” and who gets more “very nices,” and who gets an “okay” note. Just because you shot a little bit more than me, that's why you have more. Not because you did a better job.

SUKUMARAN: One thing I've noticed with Rajamouli Sir is that for all the grand visuals and the sheer scale and imagination that his films carry, I've realized that, as far as possible, he sticks to the most simple basics for his filmmaking. I've seldom seen him setting up a gimmick shot. In fact, never. I've never seen him attempt a gimmick with the camera or an unnecessarily complicated track movement. Nothing. For him, it's about the basics. It's about classical filmmaking done right.

Now, when I say classical filmmaking done right, it might seem easy, but that's the tougher thing to do. There's no escape mechanism there. When you're sticking to that language of making a film, you really can't have an escape mechanism for a shot that you're not able to capture at a moment that you're not able to get. You will have to just keep at it until you get it, and that he does. That he does. He will go on until he gets what he wants.

It's Kubrick-esque. I can’t wait to see the film in 2027.

Varanasi is slated for a global release on April 7, 2027.