Mahesh Babu confirms playing Lord Rama in Varanasi, SS Rajamouli on the Ramayana episode he has focussed on: ‘The father and son relationship…’ | Telugu News
4 min readHyderabadFeb 4, 2026 11:36 AM IST
When SS Rajamouli unveiled the grand teaser of his next action fantasy epic Varanasi last year, one of the most fascinating parts of it was a world depicted in the film that’s inspired from a chapter of Indian epic the Ramayana. Now, Mahesh Babu, who plays the protagonist Rudhra in the film, has revealed that he takes on the role of Lord Rama in that part of the movie.
How I learnt to play Lord Rama
“I’m playing Lord Rama’s character. It required posture. You can’t stand like modern characters,” said Mahesh. As part of that training, Rajamouli gave some European sculptures to him, which Mahesh nailed in his study room and carried them in his smartphone everywhere so that he could practice getting into and out of them whenever he could.
“During a family holiday in Germany, I’d subconsciously get into a posture. A couple of foreigners looked at me and wondered, ‘Is this guy okay?,” Mahesh recalled, laughing. “It was then that I noticed it. I didn’t realize it then, but now that we’re shooting and he asks me, ‘Mahesh, stand tall,’ it’s so easy to pick that up because I went through that entire process last year. And because he knows his method. I find it so easy now,” he added in an interview with Screen Rant.
‘SS Rajamouli has spoilt me’
Mahesh also underwent training in Kalari, an ancient martial arts form which originated in Kerala, only so that he could run like Lord Rama does in just two shots of that which would make it to the final cut of Varanasi. “When I saw the shot, I was really happy. It was worth it, because that six months of training for that one shot was really worth it. The way I walked changed, the way I stood changed, everything changed,” Mahesh told Variety.
The actor confessed working with Rajamouli on Varanasi has “spoilt” him so much so that he’d find it extremely challenging to move out of the project onto his next one. “There’ll be no rehearsals in that one. Then I’ll ask for rehearsals. Because they make the action so easier. You’re able to do those action sequences on set without injuries and without too many mistakes,” Mahesh argued.
Also Read: Priyanka Chopra’s one condition for SS Rajamouli’s Varanasi left Mahesh Babu ‘unhappy’
Globalizing the Ramayana
“All my films are inspired by the epics of Rama. In this film, I have a chance to actually take an actual episode from the Ramayana itself and present it in this way,” Rajamouli told Polygon. Even in his last blockbuster action epic RRR (2022), Ram Charan’s character takes on the silhouette of Lord Rama in a key action sequence.
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Rajamouli, thus, isn’t concerned whether referring to the Ramayana would be too lost on a global audience. “It is my job as a storyteller to make you not feel lost, to make the film in such a way that it’s not taxing your mind. You might not understand the whole story of Rama, but there is no need to. If you understand the emotions of the characters, you’ll understand what is happening,” he explained.
Rajamouli said that the most important relationship in the film between “a father and son” (modelled on Rama and Dasharatha) as well as Rudhra (Mahesh Babu) and a mysterious thief named Mandakini (Priyanka Chopra).
Also starring Prithviraj Sukumaran as the chief antagonist Kumbha, Varanasi is slated to release in cinemas next year on April 7.
