SS Rajamouli has often drawn creative inspiration from ancient Indian epics, something he has admitted in his latest podcast. He noted that all his movies carry elements of the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. Varanasi goes beyond. For the very first time, he is directly adapting a specific chapter straight from the pages of the Ramayana.
The director, also flanked by Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran on the podcast, shared that a fortunate alignment of events made this adaptation possible. The sequence inspired by the epic will be a major highlight of the global release. Instead of a quick scene, these Ramayana-related episodes will be expanded and spread across the narrative, totaling over 25 minutes of screen time.
The Baahubali and RRR filmmaker hadn't planned it when the story was conceived. The epic's elements fell into place like a jigsaw puzzle.
Rajamouli feels privileged to bring this timeless story to life on the big screen. The film, in which Mahesh Babu's Rudhra takes the form of Lord Rama in a separate timeline, will head to theatres on April 7 next year.
