After RRR, S.S. Rajamouli says he’s made his most epic — and personal — movie yet

“When I made RRR, I didn’t think about the US audience or the Japanese audience,” Rajamouli told Polygon last November during a trip to Hyderabad, India, where Varanasi is still in production. “I was just thinking about how it connects to the local audience that I know, but it traveled because the emotions are real, and the culture is real.”