Varanasi 2027 Cast Salaries: Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra’s Huge Fees
Discover how much Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra, and Prithviraj Sukumaran are earning for SS Rajamouli’s Rs 1,200 crore Varanasi blockbuster.
image for illustrative purpose
SS Rajamouli's Telugu-language epic Varanasi is not only getting attention because of its enormous size but also because of the star cast fees. The sources indicate that the upcoming action-adventure movie, which is planned for a Sankranti 2027 release, is going to have one of the highest budgets in Indian cinema.
The movie has Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Prithviraj Sukumaran playing the lead roles. Rajamouli, co-writer of the screenplay along with his father, V. Vijayendra Prasad, intends to narrate a tale that travels around the world and at the same time is all about the Indian cultural motifs, just like the classic adventure cinema. Mahesh Babu represents Rudhra, Priyanka Chopra is Mandakini and Prithviraj is Kumbha.
The title's formal announcement took place at the GlobeTrotter event in Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad, where viewers were shown the first teaser of the movie. Earlier the film was referred to as Globetrotter.
The production budget of the movie is expected to be around ₹1,200 crore (roughly US$140 million), making it the second-most costly Indian film after Ramayana, not counting the marketing expenses.
Rajamouli, who is seen as one of India's highest-paid directors, is expected to take no fixed salary. He has instead opted for a profit-sharing scheme. According to IMDb calculations, his pay for big films has been around ₹200 crore on average for the past.
Mahesh Babu is likely to take a similar profit-sharing compensation plan. It is reported by the media that neither the actor nor the director will be paid in advance but only after the film has made profit will they earn.
As per reports, Priyanka Chopra has already surpassed her contemporaries Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt by charging Rs 30 crore for her role and has thus set a new standard for Indian actresses.
Prithviraj Sukumaran, who usually gets Rs 4–10 crore per movie, is said to have won a salary of more than Rs 10 crore for Varanasi, as per DNA and Financial Express.
