SS Rajamouli unveils time-travel adventure film ‘Varanasi,’ with elements of Hindu mythology

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, the blockbuster movie director behind global hits like “RRR” and “Baahubali” that redefined Indian cinema’s scale and caught Hollywood’s attention, has unveiled his most ambitious film yet.

Known for blending mythic storytelling with grand action and imaginative choreography, Rajamouli announced his latest film — and its title — at an event Saturday in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, where thousands of his cheering fans thronged to catch a first glimpse.

While details about the plot of the film “Varanasi” — previously code-named “Globe Trotter” — remain under wraps, the nearly four-minute video showed a visually rich time-travel adventure that draws parts of its storyline from Hindu mythology. The film borrows its title from the Indian city considered Hinduism’s spiritual heart.

Rajamouli said the film will be projected in cinemas in IMAX format and is expected to release in 2027.

“Here you go… VARANASI to the WORLD…” Rajamouli wrote on X.

At the event, he alluded that one of the film’s sequences draws from “an important episode” from the Ramayana, a Hindu religious epic based on Lord Rama’s life.

For “Varanasi,” Rajamouli has assembled a star-studded cast, headlined by Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Having attained fame as a Bollywood superstar, Chopra Jonas returns to Indian cinema with this film after several Hollywood projects. A film poster shows her as the character Mandakini, in a mustard sari with a pistol in hand as she balances on the edge of a cliff.

“Varanasi” is Babu’s first collaboration with Rajamouli. The first look shows him as a fierce warrior covered in blood and riding a white bull with a trident in hand. Babu indeed made his entry onstage Saturday atop a mechanical white bull.

“It is a once-in-a-lifetime project,” Babu said after unveiling the teaser in Hyderabad's Ramoji Film City, the throbbing heart of Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood. “I will make everyone proud. The whole of India will be proud of us.”

Thousands of frenzied fans watched the film’s first glimpse on a mammoth 110-by-130-foot (33.5-by-39.5-meter) screen flanked by replicas of Varanasi city. A display of colorful lights and dazzling fireworks lit up the venue as crowds danced to the foot-tapping tunes of Telugu music — a mix of new songs and classics — turning the event into a vibrant festival.

The Telugu-language film industry has carved out its own identity separate from Hindi-language Bollywood with its high-octane and sometimes logic-defying action, mythic storylines and grand visual style. And much of Tollywood’s recent success — critical and box office — has been credited to Rajamouli, whose larger-than-life heroes and ambitious filmmaking with imaginative visual effects have catapulted the film industry onto the global stage.

Rajamouli became an international name after “RRR,” or “Rise, Roar, Revolt,” his 2022 three-hour, Telugu-language epic set in British India. The sprawling anti-colonial tale became one of India’s biggest hits, turned into a global streaming phenomenon, and won an Oscar for best original song. His two-part “Baahubali” series, released in 2015 and 2017, broke box-office records in India and introduced Western audiences to the visual grandeur of Telugu cinema. A reedited version combining the two parts, “Baahubali: The Epic,” released in cinemas worldwide just last month.

Many Tollywood film fans traveled from faraway towns and villages to watch Babu, who commands a near-godlike following among them.

“It’s not actually Tollywood now, it’s global now,” said Manideep Rayudu, a fan. “Our superstar Mahesh Babu is not a regional star anymore. He is a global star.”

Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu addresses his fans after unveiling the first look of the film "Varanasi" in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, third from left, with Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu, actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas and actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, extreme right, pose for photograph after unveiling of first look of film "Varanasi" in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Fans of Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu arrive to watch unveiling of first look of film "Varanasi" in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas gesture her fans before unveiling of first look of film "Varanasi" in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu rides a mechanical bull at the unveiling of first look of film "Varanasi" in Hyderabad, India, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking up one of the term's most consequential cases, President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. Trump plans to be in attendance.

In arguments Wednesday, the justices will hear Trump’s appeal of a lower-court ruling from New Hampshire that struck down the citizenship restrictions, one of several courts that have blocked them. They have not taken effect anywhere in the country.

A definitive ruling is expected by early summer.

Trump will be the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.

The case frames another test of Trump's assertions of executive power that defy long-standing precedent for a court that has largely ruled in the president's favor — but with some notable exceptions that Trump has responded to with starkly personal criticisms of the justices.

The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad immigration crackdown.

Birthright citizenship is the first Trump immigration-related policy to reach the court for a final ruling. The justices previously struck down global tariffs Trump had imposed under an emergency powers law that had never been used that way.

Trump reacted furiously to the late February tariffs decision, saying he was ashamed of the justices who ruled against him and calling them unpatriotic.

He issued a preemptive broadside against the court on Sunday on his Truth Social platform. “Birthright Citizenship is not about rich people from China, and the rest of the World, who want their children, and hundreds of thousands more, FOR PAY, to ridiculously become citizens of the United States of America. It is about the BABIES OF SLAVES!,” the president wrote. “Dumb Judges and Justices will not a great Country make!”

Trump's order would upend the long-standing view that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, and federal law since 1940 confer citizenship on everyone born on American soil, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and those born to a foreign occupying force.

The 14th Amendment was intended to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship, though the Citizenship Clause is written more broadly. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” it reads.

In a series of decisions, lower courts have struck down the executive order as illegal, or likely so, under the Constitution and federal law. The decisions have invoked the high court's 1898 ruling in Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S.-born child of Chinese nationals was a citizen.

The Trump administration argues that the common view of citizenship is wrong, asserting that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

The court should use the case to set straight “long-enduring misconceptions about the Constitution’s meaning,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

No court has accepted that argument, and lawyers for pregnant women whose children would be affected by the order said the Supreme Court should not be the first to do so.

“We have the president of the United States trying to radically reinterpret the definition of American citizenship,” said Cecillia Wang, the American Civil Liberties Union legal director who is facing off against Sauer at the Supreme Court.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington, as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen as the moon rises Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)