Mahesh Babu on Varanasi's Africa schedule: 'It was a bit intimidating with all those..'

Mahesh Babu recalled his time in shooting for SS Rajamouli's Varanasi. The film, which also stars Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran, is set to release on April 7,2027.

The film has been teased to take its characters a trip around the globe. The team was in Kenya, shooting the Maasai Mara portions of the film. Speaking about the experience, in an interview with Discussing Film, Mahesh Babu shared, "It's something I will never forget. The first day of shooting in Africa right in the middle of these animals, we had to get down from this vehicles and had to walk. I usually lead from the front, but on that particular day I was a bit hesitant. There were these walkie-talkies, and I could hear (Rajamouli) sir's voice saying, 'PC (Priyanka Chopra) I want you to walk (in) front,' and I was like... yes."

He added, “It was a bit intimidating with all those wild animals but after 5 or 10 minutes you wouldn’t see the cameras, you wouldn’t see anybody. It's just us in the middle of the wildlands.”

Mahesh Babu stars as Rudhra in Varanasi, alongside Priyanka as Mandakini and Prithviraj as the antagonist, Kumbha.

In an earlier interview, director Rajamouli described Varanasi as being in the style of the Indiana Jones films or James Bond films.