Priyanka Chopra’s Rs 1,400 cr comeback: How SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi is Indian cinema’s most expensive gamble ever | Bollywood News
3 min readNew DelhiFeb 12, 2026 12:51 PM IST
Priyanka Chopra has been away from Indian films since 2019. And now, the actor is set to make a smashing comeback with SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi, and the film’s $150 million budget makes it the most expensive Indian movie ever made. In a recent interview, she opened up about the upcoming action epic alongside Mahesh Babu, which will also mark Priyanka’s Telugu debut. It is the first Indian film to be shot in 1.43:1 IMAX format, signaling a technical shift.
During a conversation with Variety, Priyanka spoke about giving an ‘ultimatum’ to filmmaker Rajamouli while signing his film Varanasi. “This is unlike anything I’ve ever done. We travel from like Antarctica to … And just the worlds that he creates are so larger than life, and nobody has the vision that he does. So even I’m excited to see more,” she shared.
The actor further added, “I was like, ‘Listen, I’m coming back to Indian movies. I have to do a dance song. Like you have to make me dance.’ I know I’m gonna be doing it, but we haven’t shot it yet. OK, that’s one of the last things, which I’m really looking forward to. But we already did do one where choreography was crazy. It’s so intricate.”
According to reports, Varanasi has already secured a record-breaking OTT deal with Netflix at around Rs 650-700 crore for streaming rights. Moreover, Mahesh Babu reportedly signed a three-year exclusive deal with Rajamouli, charging Rs 50 crore per year, taking his total pay to Rs 150 crore, the highest fees of his career.
As per reports, SS Rajamouli is also not taking a fixed salary for the film, a model he has followed with his previous films Baahubali and RRR as well. Instead of opting for a base pay, he has a backend deal involving a major profit-sharing model, around 50% of profits after expenses are recovered.
In an earlier episode of Kapil Sharma’s Netflix show, the host had brought up the film’s budget in a lighter vein. Kapil asked if the budget of the film was indeed Rs 1,300 crore, to which she replied, “Haan (Yes)”. He replied with a witty one-liner: “So will these Rs 1,300 crore be spent only on making the film, or are you also providing jobs to the people of Varanasi?” He also asked whether the film’s budget was not this high initially and had gone up only after she came onboard. “Matlab aap ulta naak pakadne ki koshish kar rahe hain? (Are you trying to pin it on me?),” replied Priyanka. Meanwhile, reports claimed while Varanasi is India’s costliest film, it actually costs half of Priyanka’s Hollywood series Citadel Season 1, that cost almost $300 million.
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The upcoming Pan-Indian action-adventure drama has been written by Rajamouli, V. Vijayendra Prasad and S. S. Kanchi. Produced by Sri Durga Arts and Showing Business, Varanasi also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran as the main antagonist. The film is scheduled to hit the theatres on April 7, 2027.
