Rajamouli says Masai Mara was too big for ‘Varanasi’s IMAX frame

Dubai: SS Rajamouli marked Mahesh Babu's 51st birthday on Sunday by releasing the actor's first look as Rudhra, alongside a note about filming Varanasi in Kenya.

The two stills come from the film's Africa schedule, shot around Mount Kilimanjaro and in the Maasai Mara. One places Rudhra in open wilderness with zebras and giraffes behind him. The other shows him resting on a bamboo raft surrounded by dense greenery, bearded and in outdoor gear.

The caption on the film's account read: "Another trip around the Sun, before we travel across time. Happy Birthday Rudhra."

What Rajamouli said

"These frames are from our Africa schedule, and the land gave us something no set could," he wrote. "Shooting around Kilimanjaro and in the Masai Mara, I was stunned. There were mornings I felt even the 1.43:1 IMAX frame could not hold what was in front of us."

On the character, he was equally expansive. "Rudhra was born to fulfil a purpose much larger than himself. He carries a destiny he did not ask for. He is witty, he is vulnerable, and he is fierce. That's what Mahesh brought to him."

Then the line that has travelled furthest: "Anyone can play fierce. Very few can play fierce and fragile in the same breath."

He added separately that fierce is not Rudhra's only shade.

Priyanka Chopra marked the birthday with her own unseen photograph of the pair, wishing her co-star and calling him Bob.

IMAX comment

That reference to the 1.43:1 IMAX frame has been widely interpreted as confirmation that Varanasi was shot on IMAX cameras.

He did not say that.

“These frames are from our Africa schedule, and the land gave us something no set could. Shooting around Kilimanjaro and in the Masai Mara, I was stunned. There were mornings I felt even the 1.43:1 IMAX frame could not hold what was in front of us,” he said.

What he said is that the aspect ratio felt too small for what he was looking at, which is a comment about the landscape rather than a statement about the camera package. Whether the film used IMAX cameras, and how much of it, has not been announced.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has spent the summer dominating conversation about large-format presentation, taking around 61 per cent of its domestic gross from IMAX screens. A comment about the 1.43:1 frame lands differently in August 2026 than it would have a year ago.

The film is confirmed for a worldwide IMAX release. That is a distribution fact, not a shooting one, and we will just have to wait to see if it was filmed in IMAX cameras too.

What we now know about the film

The scope is enormous, and the details that have emerged make it more so.

Mahesh Babu plays two roles: Rudhra, an adventurer travelling across the world and through time to retrieve an artefact that could destroy it, and Lord Rama in a Ramayana sequence within the story.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas plays Mandakini, with her first look released on her own birthday in July. Prithviraj Sukumaran plays the antagonist, named Kumbha.

The story spans thousands of years and multiple continents, with locations running from Antarctica to Africa to Varanasi itself.

MM Keeravani, Rajamouli's longtime collaborator and an Oscar winner for Naatu Naatu, is scoring. Sri Durga Arts and Showing Business produce. The film was previously known simply as SSMB29.

Mahesh Babu spent a year preparing for the role, including three months of Kalari martial arts training undertaken solely to adjust his posture for the character.

Not for fight scenes. For how he stands.

When you can see it

Varanasi releases worldwide on 7 April 2027, in IMAX.

Production has entered its final phase, which still leaves roughly eight months of post-production on a film built around visual effects, time travel and two continents.