Shocking developments at Varanasi Mexico Comi Con. Varanasi, Rajamouli's upcoming project happens to be the prestigious one as it comes after his magmum opus RRR which created a sensation across the world and made it to the Oscars.
The film stars Mahesh Babu, Priyanka Chopra and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles. The film got a rare honour to participate at the Mexico Comic Con .
But what transpired there came as an embarrassment as empty seats greeted the panel. SS Karthikeya, one of the producers of the film, spoke about the film on stage at the event and also unveiled never-before-seen footage from the film on Friday at the CCXP, Mexico.
Varanasi is joined by heavyweight titles like Avengers: Doomsday and Dune Part Three at the event.The panel was moderated by ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley, who spoke with producer SS Karthikeya about the film’s scale and vision. Director SS Rajamouli spoke to the audience via a video message, discussing Mexican influences in Baahubali and the global fanfare RRR received. This was followed by the screening of unseen footage and BTS glimpses from Varanasi.
Netizens on seeing the empty seats reacted strongly
one Indian film fan wrote, “This is really Embarrassing, SSR Represented India on a Global Scale and Audience at Mexico Comic con are not giving deserved importance to Varanasi. The Empty seats conveys everything.”
Another video, reposted by the Varanasi film account as well, showed Rajamouli talking about Baahubali and RRR in a video message. The visuals showed people walking out and milling around even as the video played. One cine account lamented, “#Varanasi & #Ramayana seem heavily tilted toward Western markets, while the real powerhouse -Indian audience is being taken for granted. Meanwhile, latest visuals show people walking out during Varanasi BTS at Mexico Comic Con. Signals aren’t great.” Several others commented that the lack of interest for the film was ‘surprising’ given how big a rage Rajamouli’s previous film, RRR, was in the West.