Take 94. Or maybe 97. Prithviraj Sukumaran says he lost count by the time SS Rajamouli finally told the Varanasi crew to pack up and come back the next morning.
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Lunch was already on the table. The second bite had barely gone in. And then Rajamouli said the shot was ready.
In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter India, Prithviraj Sukumaran shared a specific incident from the sets of ‘Varanasi’ that has since gone widely viral. He and Mahesh Babu spent an entire day shooting a single scene, racking up somewhere between 94 and 97 takes before the director finally called it a night.
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“This is not an exaggeration. For one particular shot in the film, Mahesh Babu and I started shooting in the morning. I am not sure whether it was take 94 or 97. Later, we went for a lunch break after hours of filming. However, just when we thought we would have a second mouthful of food, he called us back to the set,” Prithviraj said.
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The shooting continued well into the evening. Around 6:30 or 7 pm, Rajamouli finally said, “Pack up. We’ll do this again tomorrow morning.”
The 97-take story is not the only detail Prithviraj shared. He revealed that Rajamouli works on ‘Varanasi’ like a debut director who waited 30 years for an opportunity. If the first shot is scheduled for 7 am, he arrives by 5 am and rehearses the scene nearly a dozen times with his assistant directors.
Prithviraj also recalled a sequence where he asked Rajamouli during the narration stage how a particular scene would be shot. Rajamouli admitted he did not know during the narration, but by the time they reached the set, he had worked out every detail completely.
“I am becoming richer as an actor, as a filmmaker, and as a human being while working on ‘Varanasi’. Even when I have suggestions, Rajamouli sir listens carefully and shares his perspective,” Prithviraj said.
On the film’s scale, he was equally direct. “Big is an understatement. I haven’t ever encountered the scale before,” he said, adding that even Rajamouli admitted, “Neither have I.”
‘Varanasi’ is an upcoming Telugu-language epic action-adventure film directed by SS Rajamouli, co-written with V. Vijayendra Prasad and S.S. Kanchi. The plot follows the adventures of Rudhra, played by Mahesh Babu, as the city of ‘Varanasi’ faces the impending arrival of an asteroid, with the narrative spanning several timelines.
Mahesh Babu plays a globe-trotting, time-travelling adventurer. Apart from his primary role, he also appears as Lord Rama in one of the film’s episodes.
Priyanka Chopra plays a femme fatale named Mandakini, marking her return to Indian cinema after The Sky Is Pink in 2019 and to Telugu cinema after over a decade. Prithviraj plays Kumbha, a physically restricted yet highly dangerous wheelchair-bound antagonist.
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