The road connecting Ramoji Film City with downtown Hyderabad is called the Outer Ring Road. It is a six-lane highway always buzzing with thousands of cars and heavy vehicles plying to and from the state capital. On Saturday, thousands of two-wheelers, buses, and tractor-trolleys contributed to the traffic. Anyone witnessing the processions and hearing chants of ‘Jai Babu’ from the people in them could be excused for thinking it was a religious procession or political rally.

It was, however, a celebration of a different kind of religion – cinema and superstardom. As many as 50,000 Mahesh Babu fans reached Ramoji Film City for the GlobeTrotter event, where SS Rajamouli unveiled the title and first look of their film, Varanasi. In an event that was as much a celebration as a show of strength, the maverick filmmaker and the superstar flexed their muscles, thanked fans, and welcomed Priyanka Chopra back to Indian cinema, all the while sending a message to global audiences: this is how India worships its cinema.

The grandeur of GlobeTrotter event

Reports, largely unverified, claim that as much as ₹15 crore was spent on the GlobeTrotter event, a sum that should be enough to mount a mid-budget movie in Tollywood today. The figure may well be an exaggeration, but nobody who watched the spectacle up close will dispute it with confidence. A section of the vast Ramoji Film City was cordoned off for the thousands of fans. A parking space bigger than arenas for most events, and a stage fit for a gala Bollywood award night, complete with India’s largest LED screen, dominating the scene with its 100 feet by 140 feet presence.

Around 300 mediapersons were flown in for the event, not just from across India, but around the world. Journalists from reputed agencies and outlets from the US, UK, Japan, and the Middle East made their way to the event. Variety live-streamed it in North America and Europe. This was Rajamouli capitalising on his fame in the West on the back of RRR’s success. And he had something more than his name to draw them to India with – Priyanka Chopra.

Priyanka Chopra’s ghar wapasi

In the West, Priyanka is not an A-lister. Scores of fans know her as that Indian actress who has worked in a couple of big films and is married to a Jonas brother. But Priyanka is so much more. She is perhaps one of the few Indian actors to achieve mainstream success in Hollywood (Irrfan Khan being the other). She has headlined shows, worked in blockbuster films, and rubbed shoulders with Hollywood royalty. In India, she was once the reigning queen. And once she left the throne, the void has been hard to fill. With Varanasi, as Priyanka attempts to reclaim that throne, Rajamouli shows the world her stature, her might, and her acting prowess.

Mahesh Babu, the superstar

If he used his name and Priyanka’s fame to lure them in, Mahesh Babu’s stardom and the show’s grandeur were what reeled the West in completely. The fans at Ramoji were fiercely loyal. Over the two hours that the event continued, their cheers were reserved for the moments when Mahesh appeared on screen. And they truly erupted when the star climbed onto the stage.

Perched on a mechanical bull, as Mahesh Babu made his way to an elevated platform in the middle of the grounds, 50000 fans screamed, erupted, and chanted. This quasi-religious fandom is exclusive to India – and of late, just the south of the country. To any westerners watching it, this explained RRR’s intensity and Baahubali’s grandeur. Cinema in India is an event. And you don’t hold events closed-door in a theatre with just a hundred elites watching. It needs to be democratic. And democracy in India is all about scale.

The GlobeTrotter event made one thing clear. Rajamouli is setting his sights overseas with Varanasi. Baahubali 2 earned $62 million overseas, and despite the pandemic, RRR managed $53 million. No Indian film not starring Shah Rukh Khan has managed to gross even $40 million since. With its scale and the goodwill that Rajamouli carries, Varanasi has the chance to surpass that, and perhaps even reach the $100 million mark. This event was a bell rung to signal that the biggest filmmaker in India is launching his campaign to take Telugu cinema and Indian cinema to the world. They’d better take notice.

Varanasi releases in theatres on Sankranthi 2027.