Varanasi is slated to hit the cinemas in 2027. What are the key takeaways for it from the global success of Ranbir Kapoor's Ramayana?
Prioritizing authentic cultural roots while ensuring emotional accessibility for global viewers is the key. It is safe to believe that, since Varanasi is an original story, the father-son (Prakash Raj-Mahesh Babu) drama will be quite involving. On this count, we can be reasonably certain that Varanasi is going to be better than Ramayana.
The project, co-starring Priyanka Chopra in an action-heavy role, needs to invest in premium formats and broad distribution. Now that Ramayana, produced by Namit Malhotra and distributed internationally by Sony Pictures, has shown the way, Rajamouli and his collaborators must be thinking big!
Challenges remain for Varanasi. Its expansive scale (spanning timelines, continents, and a 25-minute Ramayana-inspired sequence that alone required 60 days of shooting) demands meticulous technical and creative execution across disparate episodes.
If Varanasi is arresting in terms of its story, it's going to be the most momentous occasion for Indian cinema after this year's Ramayana. Its visuals will be compared with those of the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer for sure. The Baahubali and RRR maker has his task cut out. For the first time since Baahubali, his film is getting benchmarked against the scale of a Bollywood movie. If it surpasses Ramayana: Part 1, the second edition of Ramayana will be evaluated against the visual quality of Varanasi.
