# Mahesh Babu wraps his portions of SS Rajamouli's Varanasi, begins dubbing

Published 2026-09-23T20:13:36Z

> Mahesh Babu has completed shooting his portions of SS Rajamouli's action adventure Varanasi, including his introduction episode, and has started dubbing, with the film still locked for an April 7, 2027 theatrical release.

SS Rajamouli's Varanasi has crossed a big milestone. Mahesh Babu has finished shooting his portions of the action adventure, including his introduction episode, and has moved on to dubbing for the role.

The film went before the camera on January 24, 2025, and reports say the superstar completed his last day on September 22, 2026, which works out to 606 days on the project. More than 90 percent of the film is reportedly done, with the leftover patchwork to be picked up in Varanasi itself, and Rajamouli is expected to close all pending shoots before October.

One of the talking points is Mahesh's look. He went through a physical transformation before the shoot began and is said to be in his fittest and most stylish form yet. In a few episodes he appears as a 24 year old, and the team pulled that off without leaning on AI or VFX.

Mahesh plays Rudhra, a rugged archaeologist and explorer recruited for a high stakes globetrotting mission to recover an ancient cosmic artefact. He is joined by Mandakini, a fierce historian and skilled marksman, while a tech savvy villain named Kumbha hunts them across the jungles of Africa, the ice of Antarctica and locations in Europe. Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran play the other leads, and the story is set in 2027, when an asteroid named Shambhavi heads towards the city. Reports say Mahesh also appears as Lord Rama in one episode.

With the camera work nearly done, attention has shifted to editing, visual effects and music. MM Keeravani has started on the background score, several teams are handling the heavy VFX load, P. S. Vinod is the cinematographer and V. Srinivas Mohan supervises the effects work. KL Narayana produces.

Varanasi is locked for theatres on April 7, 2027, and is being mounted as a global scale Indian production with wide international promotions planned. Reports also point to a release across as many as 50 languages, and to talks with an international studio for an English version, though nothing on that front has been confirmed.

## Related titles
- [Vāranāsi](https://clapnumber.com/movies/varanasi)

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Source: https://clapnumber.com/news/mahesh-babu-wraps-his-portions-of-ss-rajamoulis-varanasi-begins-dubbing
Retrieved: 2026-09-25