SS Rajamouli calls Varanasi’s villain “one of my finest characters”

S.S. Rajamouli, the Indian filmmaker behind RRR and Baahubali, knows how to tell an epic story. A big part of that is creating larger-than-life heroes, often by drawing from India’s history, mythology, and lore; but an equally important factor is the villain, an evil and ruthless antagonist for those heroes to struggle against and ultimately defeat. Rajamouli’s next film, Varanasi has a hero in Telugu cinema superstar Mahesh Babu, and a villain in Salaar‘s Prithviraj Sukumaran.