Varanasi Shoot: What Happened to the Old SS Rajamouli?

Director SS Rajamouli has built a reputation for never compromising on quality. He takes his own time, pushes deadlines if needed, and ensures that every frame meets his perfection standards before the film hits theatres. Even during massive projects like Baahubali, release dates shifted because Rajamouli refused to rush post-production or visual output.

But his upcoming film Varanasi starring Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra seems to be breaking that pattern completely.

For the first time in his career, Rajamouli is sticking to a strict timeline, and surprisingly, everything is going exactly as planned. The shoot is progressing without delays, and the team is reportedly maintaining tight discipline across departments. There are no last-minute hiccups, no schedule overruns, and no chaos, which is something rarely associated with Rajamouli’s scale of filmmaking.

According to the latest updates, the team aims to wrap up the entire shoot by August. What is even more interesting is that post-production work has already begun in parallel. With this pace, the makers are confident of hitting the planned release date, April 7, 2027, without any postponement. This kind of deadline driven execution is new territory for Rajamouli, and it has caught fans and industry insiders off guard.

Meanwhile, insider reports suggest that one particular sequence, the “Ugrabhatti cave” episode teased earlier, is turning out to be a visual spectacle. The team is reportedly designing this segment on a grand scale, aiming to deliver a next level big screen experience. If everything goes as planned, this sequence alone could become one of the film’s major highlights, along with the 25-minute Ramayana episode.

Varanasi is shaping up to be another ambitious spectacle. But more than the scale, what is really surprising everyone is Rajamouli’s speed. If he actually delivers this film on time without compromising quality, it could mark a huge shift in how he approaches filmmaking going forward.