SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi: Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran open up on wilderness shoots, physical limits and a mythic vision

Even before its release, SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi has begun to feel like an event film.

The teaser sparked intense online chatter, with fans dissecting every frame as the scale of the project became clear. Headlined by Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, the globe-spanning epic promises a story that blends history, mythology, faith and spectacle across centuries and continents.

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But as the cast recently revealed in an interview with Variety, the ambition of Varanasi wasn’t limited to the screen. The making of the film demanded extreme locations, physical transformation and an unusual commitment to realism - hallmarks of Rajamouli’s filmmaking style.

Here’s how Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran experienced that journey.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas - Between the Wild and a Homecoming

Filming in the Heart of the Maasai Mara For Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who plays Mandakini, one of the most challenging schedules took place far from controlled studio sets - in Kenya’s Maasai Mara during the wildebeest migration. The production received special access to protected land, allowing the team to film amid real wildlife rather than recreating the environment digitally. The unpredictability of nature dictated the shoot.

“I don’t think many people have had that kind of freedom or access to the land of Maasai Mara, besides probably poachers, maybe,” PeeCee says.

“Being able to go in there and actually work with real animals was intimidating and exhilarating at the same time," she added.

The crew had to adapt to animal movement rather than fixed call times.

“Everything was animal dependent. So the crew hardly slept,” she explains.

The Desi Girl said, “When the family of elephants would move, that’s when we had to go and say our lines.”

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Rajamouli’s Push for Realism

Despite the film’s heavy use of visual effects, Rajamouli reportedly prioritised practical environments wherever possible to ground performances in reality.

“This movie is so VFX heavy, he’s very, very specific about having parts of it which are absolutely real,” said the actress. 

Further, she added, “He’s so specific about making this movie an amalgamation of actual production design, real sets, real interaction and VFX. So we only go to VFX with things we can’t achieve practically.” 

The approach, she suggests, helped actors react more authentically to their surroundings. She also shares a personal connection to the title city.

“I’m a big Shiva Bhakt [Hindu God Shiva who is Varanasi’s presiding deity]. So hearing the story and understanding why it’s called ‘Varanasi’ was amazing,” she says.

“There was no part of me which felt that this story does not do justice to the history and the gravity of the city,” said the actress.

Prithviraj Sukumaran - Crafting a Villain Through Stillness A Physically Restricted Antagonist

While Chopra Jonas battled the elements outdoors, Prithviraj Sukumaran faced a very different challenge - playing a villain with almost no physical movement. His character, Kumbha, is confined to a wheelchair and communicates primarily through facial expressions, making the performance unusually restrained.

“All that you see here is practical. It’s not like a CGI image that you’re seeing. The wheelchair and me in it, and everything is practical,” he says.

Sukumaran said, “The challenge was that this is only the face that is mobile, and everything that this character has to convey has to be done through just the face with no particular body language associated with it.” 

Without conventional action or body language, the role required precision and subtlety.

Mental Power Over Physical Strength

Sukumaran describes the antagonist as someone whose presence is psychological rather than physical. He calls the role “a very interesting dichotomy, because he is severely limited in his physicality, but he is also very dangerously unlimited in his mentality.”

The stillness, he explains, ultimately makes the character more unsettling.

Why the Title Matters

For Sukumaran, even the film’s name carries thematic weight. “There really isn’t a more apt title for what this film is about and what the plot of the film entails,” he says. “How this narrative arc travels has got a lot to do with Varanasi itself.”

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An Epic in the Making

From wildlife reserves in Africa to spiritually rooted storytelling tied to one of India’s most historic cities, Varanasi appears designed on a scale rarely attempted in Indian cinema.

If the teaser is any indication, Rajamouli’s next project isn’t just another period drama - it’s a large-scale mythological adventure shaped by real locations, demanding performances and an uncompromising vision. And for its cast, the journey has already been as intense as the story itself.