Dhurandhar’ Effect: ‘Varanasi’ Eyes a Two-part Format

The upheavals post-Dhurandhar continue to be felt across Bollywood and the Telugu film industry, and not all of them are deleterious. S. S. Rajamouli’s Varanasi, expected to be one of the most expensive Indian films ever made, is now set to opt for a two-part format.

The purported epic has a sprawling canvas, one that may be too expansive for a single film. “Three hours-plus would not be enough for Varanasi. They are looking at extending it into a two-part format. This format has worked wonderfully for Dhurandhar. Rajamouli and his team feel this extended format would afford them the liberty to tell a more expanded story without looking anxiously at the clock,” reveals a source close to the development.

This, however, will not be a sequel but one continuous story split into two parts.

Says a source closely associated with the project, “Length is no longer considered a problem. Earlier on, films had to be downsized, tailored to suit movie theatre timings, number of shows, etc. Now after Animal, RRR and Dhurandhar it is not about the length but the interest level. Filmmakers don’t need to cut down their storytelling. They just have to make sure it remains interesting right until the end, no matter how lengthy.”

There is also buzz that Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Spirit may follow a similar route, signalling a shift where scale increasingly dictates structure.