Upcoming Epic Varanasi From RRR Director Has A Scope That Makes Avatar Feel Small [Exclusive]

North American audiences and many others in the West have a lot of catching up to do. It was telling that, when "RRR" first made its way to our shores in 2022, most of us were caught completely unaware. Director S.S. Rajamouli hadn't yet become a known quantity here, while we remained blissfully ignorant of the bromance between main stars N.T. Rama Rao, Jr. and Ram Charan as the two protagonists. When Rajamouli's next movie arrives in 2027 with "Varanasi," well, we'll have officially run out of excuses when it comes to awareness.

But jumping diving headfirst into something like Indian cinema can be intimidating, which is likely why comparisons have quickly grown between the epic-sized storytelling "Varanasi" seems to be offering and our closest live-action equivalent: James Cameron's "Avatar." In November of 2025, /Film was one of a few outlets invited to Hyderabad, India, to visit the set of the upcoming film and attend the announcement/trailer event — a one-of-a-kind experience held in an outdoor amphitheater with Rajamouli; his main cast of Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, and Telugu star Mahesh Babu; and over 50,000 passionate fans.

Afterwards, I had the opportunity to talk with the trio of stars and state the obvious: that there really aren't any accurate comparison points for what "Varanasi" appears to be offering. Even the lush landscapes of Pandora can't compete with a gargantuan, visual effects-heavy blockbuster that leans heavily on Hindu mythology and many of the greatest, spectacle-sized traditions of what's known as the Tollywood industry in India. So here's why all those "Avatar" comparisons can't help but fall woefully short.

Hollywood has a rich and treasured history of producing some of the biggest and most epic movies the world has ever seen, from "Ben-Hur" to "The Ten Commandments" to "Cleopatra," but is it possible that we're no longer on the cutting edge anymore? With trilogies like "The Lord of the Rings" firmly in the rearview mirror, James Cameron's "Avatar" franchise might be the closest thing Hollywood has to a modern torchbearer these days, but even that can't quite live up to the level of storytelling going on in "Varanasi."

During my interview with the cast for /Film, I admitted that I went in looking for an American equivalent to the trailer footage we saw. This was a tall task, as it turns out, given that this melodrama involves Hindu gods and mythological landscapes and what might even be described as a time-travel element — or, at least, one reminiscent of the sweeping timeline of "2001: A Space Odyssey." When posed with "Avatar" as a possible touchstone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas very diplomatically addressed the question:

"I mean, scale? Maybe. But there's so much that happens in this movie [...] We start from 7,000 BCE and we come down to 2027. So you're modern, contemporary and, at the same time, your time traveling. But it's not like 'Back to the Future.' It's not like you get into a machine and travel. You'll see how that happens within, for our characters. And at the same time, it's an adventure film. So it's like, 'Oh, is it like an 'Indiana Jones?” But it's not just that."

When we conducted this interview late last year, principal photography on "Varanasi' had only been in its most preliminary stages — in fact, the cast had yet to even step foot on the set that a group of journalists and I visited earlier that day. (More on that at a later date.) But based on certain location shooting in Africa, greenscreen work, and plentiful discussions they'd already had with director S.S. Rajamouli throughout the process, it's clear that everyone involved has a clear vision of what the final product will be.

For now, all attempts to box "Varanasi" into any one genre label are doomed to fail. To Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who portrays one of the main heroes named Mandakini, it's simply best to take this experience for what it is. According to the star, it's utterly unlike anything we've seen yet, from the director and even from the medium overall:

"It is a genre of its own, I think. And I think that's what [S.S. Rajamouli's] ambition was, to create something which is his biggest, most ambitious project, but at the same time to create a genre of cinema within itself. And that's so exciting."

If Rajamouli's "RRR" and his "Baahubali" epics already defied conventions, that may have only been a taste of what we're in for with "Varanasi." By all accounts, however, the wait will be worth it. "Varanasi" hits theaters on April 7, 2027.