SS RajamouliIndian director $$$$ And Baahubaliknows how to tell an epic story. A big part of this is creating larger-than-life heroes, often based on the history, mythology and lore of India; but an equally important factor is the villain, the evil and ruthless antagonist whom these heroes must fight and ultimately defeat. Rajamouli's next film. Varanasi The Telugu film has a hero – film superstar Mahesh Babu – and the film has a villain. lettucePrithviraj Sukumaran.
Speaking to tens of thousands of people at a special event held in Hyderabad, India, attended by Polygon, he recounted his experience of meeting the mysterious new character Kumbha for the first time.
“I received a message from Rajamouli,” recalls the actor. “He said, 'The antagonist character in my next film did extremely well and is one of my best characters. Would you be interested in playing this? A few days later I was in his office.”
Prithviraj continued, “After five minutes of narration, I was shocked. I listened to him like a little boy who got his hands on another edition of his favorite comic book. How can anyone think like that? Where do you get the inspiration to portray something like that?”
He also described his character as “one of the most complex, most emotionally and physically challenging characters he's ever seen.” [Rajamouli] ever thought.”
Plot details Varanasi remain sparse (although a little research into the title may provide some clues for those who are ok with spoilers). We know even less about Prithviraj's villain Kumbh, who doesn't appear in the new teaser trailer. The character poster released a week before the event shows Kumbha sitting in a futuristic wheelchair with Doc Ock's robotic arms, suggesting he will play a Lex Luthor-style antagonist who uses brains instead of brawn, but that's all we know so far. That, and apparently he's quite scary, at least according to Priyanka Chopra, who plays the film's female lead, Mandakini.
“Prithviraj, you are very scary in the film, intimidating,” Chopra said at the announcement, before adding, “But in real life, you are the complete opposite.”
Expectations are already high Varanasiwhich won't be released until 2027, about five years after the director's last film. $$$$.
Prithviraj, who is better known in India for his leading roles in Malayalam cinema (also known as Mollywood), described his first team-up with Telugu cinema (Tollywood) icon Rajamouli and the resulting film as an important moment for the entire country.
“This is a piece of cinema that we all truly believe will be our collective pride,” he said, praising the director for “bringing Indian cinema to the world, this time bigger, better and bolder than before.”
