The director of the Academy Award-winning Indian movie RRR has revealed that his next project will be shot entirely on IMAX. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey remains the only other film to have ever achieved this feat.
S. S. Rajamouli opened up about his upcoming film, Varanasi, in a recent interview with the European magazine Tsounami. The Indian filmmaker revealed that the project is the first non-English movie to be filmed entirely on IMAX (via The Hollywood Reporter India).
Rajamouli also shared that all large-scale IMAX action sequences from the movie have already been filmed, with only the smaller sequences left to be shot.
Varanasi is an upcoming Telugu-language epic action-adventure film that centers on Rudhra as the titular ancient city faces the threat of doom from an impending asteroid impact. The narrative spans thousands of years and multiple locations, ranging from Africa to Antarctica. It stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Mahesh Babu, and Prithviraj Sukumaran.
What else the director revealed about his next big project
During the interview, Rajamouli revealed that his crew has completed filming around 80% of Varanasi. They are currently shooting some remaining sequences in Hyderabad, India. “We’ve finished the biggest action scenes,” the director said. “We still have the smaller scenes and everything in between.”
Rajamouli also provided an update on the film’s post-production. “Every completed sequence is immediately edited and sent to the visual effects team, allowing different departments to work in parallel and keep the production on schedule,” he shared.
The filmmaker went on to explain why Varanasi’s teaser did not reveal much about the storyline. “I didn’t want to reveal too much because it wouldn’t do justice to the film,” he said. “Instead, we made a video showing the kind of experience audiences can expect, without revealing the story.”
There had previously been speculation that Varanasi would be released in two parts. However, Rajamouli has confirmed that he will release it as a single movie with a runtime of around three hours.
Varanasi arrives in theaters worldwide on April 7, 2027.