Varanasi not being made at Rs 1200-1300 cr budget, read to know SS Rajamouli’s master plan

SS Rajamouli is directing Mahesh Babu's Varanasi

SS Rajamouli is hard at work on Varanasi, a big action-adventure movie with Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra, and Prithviraj Sukumaran that will be shown all over the world. The movie has already gotten a lot of attention, but recent rumours that it has a budget of Rs 1200–1300 crore are not true at all.

There is no truth to budget rumours. As per an article published in Telugu 360, it is said that Rajamouli has not yet set a budget for Varanasi. After almost a year of coming up with the idea, planning the shoot, and choosing the cast and crew, the director is said to have asked the producer for complete creative freedom instead of a set budget.

A large part of the movie's budget will go toward world-class VFX work, and several top Hollywood studios are already working together on the project. But the estimates that are going around online are not based on facts.

How Rajamouli's payment system works

People know Rajamouli for his unusual way of sharing profits. He doesn't want a huge director's fee; instead, he wants a small amount of money up front and 50% of the profits after the movie comes out. After the producers get back all of their money, they get half of the rest of the money made around the world.

Varanasi is also the first movie his son, SS Karthikeya, has worked on. Reports say that Mahesh Babu is getting paid a yearly salary for the long time it takes to shoot.

KL Narayana Fully Supports the Film

KL Narayana, a veteran producer who is paying for the project, is said to be "very confident" that he will get his money back. He is just giving the money to Rajamouli and his team so they can make the movie however they want.

Rajamouli has also come up with a plan for Varanasi's worldwide release. It will work with a big Hollywood studio to help it reach more people around the world.

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Already in Place: Recovery Strategy

The team is hopeful about how well the movie will do at the box office. People who know say that the people who made the movie expect to make back all of the money they spent on it through deals that don't involve theatres (like satellite, digital, and music rights) and Indian theatre revenue alone. Before the movie comes out in theatres, any money made in international markets will be pure profit.

Varanasi is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated Indian movies, with Rajamouli in charge and a star-studded cast leading the way. And the budget numbers aren't even that high.