After Baahubali and RRR, every new film by S. S. Rajamouli comes with one natural question: how much bigger can he dream? With his upcoming film Vaaranasi, starring Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, Rajamouli seems ready to answer that question with a film that combines time travel, mythology, adventure, spiritual geography and global-scale spectacle. 🎬🔥
The film, earlier discussed under the working identity GlobeTrotter, has been officially presented as Vaaranasi, an epic action-adventure rooted in Hindu mythology. Reports describe it as a large-scale time-travel adventure with references to the Ramayana, while Mahesh Babu’s first-look imagery as Rudhra, riding a white bull and holding a trident, immediately created massive curiosity.
Why Vaaranasi Feels Different
Rajamouli has always been interested in mythic emotion. Even when he is not directly adapting mythology, his cinema often feels larger than ordinary life. Baahubali had the structure of an epic legend. RRR turned two freedom fighters into near-mythological heroes. With Vaaranasi, he appears to be moving closer to a direct blend of mythology and science-fiction adventure.
That combination is exciting because Indian cinema has rarely explored time travel through a deeply Indian spiritual lens. The reported idea of moving across timelines, continents and mythological references gives Vaaranasi the possibility of becoming something bigger than a star vehicle. It could become a cinematic bridge between ancient India, modern adventure and futuristic imagination.
The project is also being planned with massive visual ambition. Reports say Rajamouli has built a huge Vaaranasi set, with international media also visiting the production space, suggesting that the film is being positioned not merely as an Indian release but as a global cinematic event.
Mahesh Babu as Rudhra: The New Rajamouli Hero
Rajamouli’s strongest heroes are not just written; they are mythologised. Amarendra Baahubali, Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju became unforgettable because Rajamouli gave them visual identity, emotional purpose and symbolic power. In Vaaranasi, Mahesh Babu’s character Rudhra appears designed in that tradition.
The first-look presentation—blood, bull, trident and warrior energy—suggests a hero connected to divine force, ancient duty and physical adventure. For Mahesh Babu, this could be the biggest reinvention of his career. He has long been one of Telugu cinema’s most stylish and controlled stars, but Rajamouli usually demands a full transformation from his actors. Vaaranasi may push Mahesh into a more rugged, mythic and physically intense zone than audiences have seen before.
The Hollywood Comparison: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The closest Hollywood comparison to Vaaranasi is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. That film also combines adventure, ancient history, a mysterious artifact and time travel. Its plot revolves around Indiana Jones trying to recover a legendary artifact connected to the Antikythera mechanism, which is fictionalised in the film as a device capable of revealing time fissures.
Both Vaaranasi and Dial of Destiny appear to belong to the same broad genre: historical adventure mixed with time-travel fantasy. But the emotional foundations are very different.
| Aspect | Vaaranasi | Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny |
|---|---|---|
| Core setting | Indian spiritual and mythological geography | Western archaeological adventure |
| Hero type | Mythic Indian adventurer/warrior | Aging archaeologist-adventurer |
| Time-travel base | Expected to connect with mythology, Ramayana and destiny | Linked to an ancient Greek mechanism |
| Emotional tone | Epic, spiritual, large-scale, heroic | Nostalgic, adventurous, legacy-driven |
| Cultural identity | Rooted in Indian sacred history | Rooted in Western archaeology and pulp adventure |
The comparison is useful because both films ask a similar cinematic question: What if the past is not dead, but reachable?
In Dial of Destiny, time travel becomes a way to examine Indiana Jones’ age, regret and relationship with history. In Vaaranasi, Rajamouli may use time travel differently—not as nostalgia, but as a way to connect the modern hero with ancient dharma, cosmic duty and mythological memory.
Where Vaaranasi Can Go Beyond Hollywood
Hollywood adventure films often treat ancient civilizations as mysteries to be solved, artifacts to be recovered or secrets to be unlocked. Rajamouli has a chance to do something different. In Vaaranasi, the past does not need to be only a puzzle. It can be a living spiritual force.
That is where the film could become distinctly Indian. If Rajamouli uses time travel not just for spectacle but to explore ideas such as karma, destiny, rebirth, divine duty, cosmic balance and civilizational memory, then Vaaranasi can stand apart from Hollywood comparisons.
This is important because Rajamouli’s global success has never come from imitating Hollywood. RRR travelled internationally because it was emotionally Indian, visually fearless and unapologetically dramatic. Vaaranasi can follow the same path: use global cinematic tools, but keep the emotional grammar Indian.
The Risk: Scale Without Clarity
A film like Vaaranasi also carries risk. Time travel can become confusing if the rules are not clear. Mythology can become heavy if the emotion is not simple. Visual effects can become empty if they do not serve the story.
This is where Rajamouli’s screenplay discipline will matter. The audience must understand:
- Who is Rudhra?
- What is his mission?
- Why does time travel matter?
- What is at stake emotionally?
- How does Vaaranasi connect the past, present and future?
If these questions are answered clearly, the film can become a landmark. If not, it may become visually grand but emotionally distant.
Why Vaaranasi Could Be a Turning Point
Indian cinema is now ready for films that think beyond the usual boundaries of language, region and genre. Kalki 2898 AD showed that audiences are open to mythological science fiction. Baahubali proved that fictional epic worlds can become national obsessions. RRR showed that Indian cinematic emotion can travel globally.
Vaaranasi appears to be arriving at the intersection of all three: mythology, spectacle and global ambition. Its IMAX positioning and international-scale promotion indicate that Rajamouli is not treating it as just another Telugu film, but as an Indian cinematic event designed for the world.
Conclusion
Vaaranasi could become one of the most fascinating experiments in Indian cinema: a time-travel adventure that does not merely borrow from science fiction, but filters it through Indian mythology and spiritual imagination.
The Hollywood comparison with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is natural because both films involve ancient history, mysterious forces and time travel. But Rajamouli’s film has the opportunity to go in a very different direction. While Indiana Jones looks at the past through archaeology, Vaaranasi may look at the past through faith, memory, destiny and mythic heroism.
If Rajamouli gets the balance right, Vaaranasi may not just be another big-budget spectacle. It could become the film that shows how Indian cinema can create its own form of mythological science-fiction adventure—rooted in India, but built for the world. 🌍🔥
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