'Varanasi' launch: SS Rajamouli expressed disappointment over the leak; Says, 'That is one year of hard work, all leaked by one drone'

SS Rajamouli unveiled the title and teaser of his next grand action adventure as 'Varanasi.' The teaser included the first look of Mahesh Babu from the film, making a powerful entrance riding a bull. The event was attended with massive fanfare; however, videos and pictures of the teaser leaked just ahead of the official release.

The ace director went on to share his disappointment over it.

Technical glitch delays teaser screening

After SS Rajamouli stepped on the dice to make the grand reveal, the makers saw a technical glitch, which led to a short delay in streaming the teaser. In the meantime, the director addressed the crowd, sharing his disappointment that the hard work of hundreds of people and crores of rupees was all in vain.

Rajamouli expresses frustration over drone footage leak

He said, "We ambitiously decided to set up this massive LED screen and brought in the best LED panels.

To power it all, we needed more than 45 generators. Yesterday, we were supposed to test everything: the cranes, the black cloth, and the video. During the test, someone started capturing drone footage and uploaded our content onto social media as if it were from Netflix.""That is one year of our hard work, thousands of hours by hundreds of people, and crores of rupees all leaked because of one drone flying randomly. We couldn't even test our video properly. We are scared of more leaks now. We took a risk, and it didn't work. A power glitch is happening," he further added.

Mahesh Babu is introduced as 'Rudhra'

The event also marked the official reveal of Mahesh Babu’s character, Rudhra. Priyanka Chopra will be seen as Mandakini, opposite Mahesh Babu, while Prithviraj Sukumaran takes on the antagonist's role as Kumbha.The movie is set to release in 2027.