The director SS Rajamouli shared his first doubts about casting Priyanka Chopra Jonas after Varanasi reached its highest level of public excitement. The director SS Rajamouli shared his first doubts about casting Priyanka Chopra Jonas after Varanasi reached its highest level of public excitement.

Chopra marks her return to Indian cinema by taking on the lead role of Mandakini in her first film following an eight-year break. The filmmaker Rajamouli expressed his doubts about her performance capabilities because he believed her Hollywood work would change her traditional Indian acting style.

The Pathway between Hollywood and ‘Mandakini’
Priyanka’s last Indian outing was 2019’s The Sky Is Pink. Since then, she has worked in Western productions which include Citadel and Quantico. Rajamouli expressed his doubts about her ability to return to her “Indian base” after she finished her Hollywood work.

Directing the film Varanasi, the director established his doubt about her performance capabilities because he believed she had adapted her performance style to better suit Western audiences. “But on the first day on set in Varanasi, she was a fish into water.”

The director explained that the role of Mandakini required two opposing qualities because she needed to perform intense action scenes while maintaining her emotional strength. The casting director finally discovered Chopra to be the ideal choice because she had achieved success in both Barfi! and international action movies.

The IMAX Challenge presents a “Dharna” at an event in Los Angeles because the Varanasi project needs its technical requirements yet faces challenges because India does not have IMAX theaters.

As of 2026, India houses only 35 IMAX screens compared to over 400 in the US. The Varanasi film requires additional elements because it has been designed at a high production value. The filmmaker used his usual energy to create a humorous protest plan:

The Plan: Rajamouli announced his intention to stage a protest demonstration outside the IMAX headquarters in Los Angeles through a tent city if no new screens are built before the film premiere.

The Innovation: The production team created a complete 100 x 130-foot screen which they built from scratch at Ramoji Film City to present the film’s first look.

Worlds Inspired by Epics
The upcoming Varanasi film will take viewers on an extensive spatial experience which combines elements from the Ramayana with its historical settings. The director rejected the belief that these stories belong to past times because he believed the essence of these epics remains active within people today. The filmmaker states that he must fulfill storytelling requirements because audiences will anticipate a specific response from him.

Mahesh Babu plays the leading role in Varanasi while Prithviraj Sukumaran takes on the role of Varanasi. The film is scheduled for a global release on April 7, 2027.