Devara Set for Varanasi, Will Rajamouli Compromise?

The ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States is creating global panic as international trade and tourism industries have taken massive beating. It has now reached a point where this conflict is affecting Mahesh Babu and Rajamouli’s Varanasi.

Incidentally, the upcoming schedule of this megabudget action film was supposed to be on international soil. The makers are reportedly prepared an international schedule where certain key sequences from the film will be shot across the globe. 

However, due to the growing concerns about international travel as Dubai and Arab Emirates have largely cut down flight operations, it isn’t viable to travel abroad at this point. And also there is this safety factor as a film of the scale cannot afford to have its lead stars like Mahesh, Priyanka Chopra, ‎Prithviraj Sukumaran, Rajamouli and the rest to be stranded abroad. 

So, the schedule has been cancelled indefinitely and the unit is instead reportedly shifting to a local set in Hyderabad where NTR’s Devara was shot earlier for key water action related sequences. This is the alternative plan that is in action now and certain changes are made to the scheduling to shoot this production first.

The team will apparently keep a close eye on the global affairs, and will possibly travel when the conditions permit. Considering that a lot of footage was shot already in Antarctica, Africa, and other parts of the globe, the team can afford a bit of leeway by shooting in Hyderabad with domestic locations for the time being.

But at the same time, Rajamouli is a very particular filmmaker, and he prefers to shoot only in real locations. This happened earlier for RRR.

Now his primary intention will be to shoot in real locations but will have to settle with set shoot for the time being due to global events. But he is very particular about the output and would not think twice before reshooting if the imminent footage isn’t satisfactory.