Not a Gimmick: Rajamouli Reveals Why IMAX

S.S. Rajamouli says Varanasi was filmed for IMAX to capture the massive scale of its worlds and battle sequences.

Rajamouli’s ambition with Varanasi continues to raise the bar for Indian cinema. The film has been announced as the first non-English language film designed to feature 1.43:1 IMAX sequences, making it one of the most technically ambitious productions ever mounted in India.

In a recent interview the ace director explained why Varanasi was filmed for the IMAX format. Speaking in an interview with Tsounami, Rajamouli said the decision to shoot Varanasi for IMAX was never about marketing or creating a gimmick. Instead, it was driven purely by the film’s gigantic visual scale.

Rajamouli said Varanasi features enormous worlds that simply couldn’t be presented effectively on a conventional screen. He revealed that the film includes Antarctica sequences with ice formations towering nearly 300 feet high, along with massive battle sequences featuring gigantic armies from Ancient Rome. Capturing the sheer size and grandeur of these visuals required a much larger canvas.

Rajamouli explained that the IMAX aspect ratio allowed the team to showcase the height, depth, and scale of these environments in a way that regular formats simply cannot. Rajamouli’s explanation for shooting Varanasi in IMAX perfectly reflects the scale of his dream project.

#Varanasi’s MASSIVE IMAX Scale:

“From 300-foot-high ice walls in Antarctica to gigantic armies of Ancient Rome, the scale is massive.

We wanted to capture their immensity in the best possible way, and the IMAX ratio allowed us to do that.”

– @ssrajamouli with French film… pic.twitter.com/xuJS3xF7Nw

— M9 NEWS (@M9News_) August 3, 2026