Varanasi: SS Rajamouli Recreates Holy City Of Kashi In Hyderabad For Mahesh Babu-Priyanka Chopra Starrer, Photos Of Magnificent Set Go Viral

Varanasi is SS Rajamouli's latest magnum opus. Estimated to be made on a budget of around ₹1300 crore, the film stars Priyanka Chopra and Mahesh Babu in the lead roles. The first look at the ‘globetrotting adventure’ movie was revealed in the media in November 2025. Members of the international press were invited for a private tour of the set following the grand event. Months after the launch, the attendees have now shared photos and videos from the Varanasi set.

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Rajamouli's penchant for grand and larger-than-life sets is not unknown to fans. With Baahubali and RRR, the filmmaker has proved his mettle and the opulence of Indian cinema in the international space as well. Therefore, global eyes are waiting for the release of his next, Varanasi, on April 7, 2027. In the days leading upto the release, the team is seemingly planting seeds of promotions for the jungle adventure movie.

On March 24, social media was flooded with photos from the set of Varanasi. In the pictures, a detailed city of Kashi could be seen built on rented land in Hyderabad. The photos feature the signature steps of the Ganga Ghat, tea stalls and local vendors in the area, boatsmen, local transport and most importantly, the iconic Ratneshwar Mahadev Temple. The detailed and elaborated recreation of the holy city has been built in a 700 by 400 feet area.

Varanasi is slated to be a time-travel movie showing events from  7,200 BCE to 2027. Consequently, the set design reflects the changing times and the metamorphosis of the city over the many thousand years. Instead of relying on CGI or making dual sets, SS Rajamouli used the techniques of ‘peak detailing' to transform the Hyderabad set into Varanasi city through the passage of time.
 

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Interestingly, Rotten Tomatoes reported that all the effort and elaborate details on the set have been created for a sequence that will amount to only 25 minutes in the three-hour-long movie. However, building a set in the open, especially in a city like Hyderabad, came with its own set of challenges.

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Speaking to Polygon, SS Rajamouli admitted, “I’m very worried. It's a huge job to constantly secure your production from prying eyes and all that. We would rather concentrate on the creative job, not the security job, but that's how it is. We have to do both, and we will do both.” The filmmaker also shared that the Varanasi set will be destroyed after the shoot, unlike the Baahubali set, which still exists at Ramoji Film City. 

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