Rudhra gets a birthday safari
Two new images of Mahesh Babu’s Rudhra in S. S. Rajamouli’s Varanasi arrived on the actor’s birthday, with the director saying they’re from the Africa schedule — including a Masai Mara frame.
New stills from S. S. Rajamouli’s Varanasi show Rudhra during the film’s Africa schedule.
The team behind S. S. Rajamouli’s Varanasi released two new stills of Mahesh Babu as Rudhra on the occasion of the actor’s birthday. One image shows him reclining on a bamboo raft in a forest; another has him looking back amid giraffes in Kenya’s Masai Mara. The film previously introduced the character as “Rudhra”.
According to a report that reproduces Rajamouli’s note, the stills are from the Africa schedule around Kilimanjaro and the Masai Mara. Rajamouli described Rudhra as witty, sensitive and capable of becoming fierce — the mix he says led him to cast Mahesh — and added that even an IMAX camera could not capture those African mornings.
Varanasi was unveiled with an official video naming Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran, with M. M. Keeravani composing. Earlier coverage described it as a time‑travel adventure drawing on Hindu mythology, slated for a 2027 theatrical release with IMAX projection. For once, the headline act is the work; the national parties can go argue with each other about who discovered Africa.