Rajamouli’s Eternal War heads to Annecy’s spotlight

S. S. Rajamouli is taking “Baahubali” into uncharted animation territory with “Baahubali: The Eternal War,” unveiling work-in-progress footage at the 2026 Annecy Animation Film Festival. Between a massive afterlife journey and a production spanning eight studi

For S. S. Rajamouli, the journey toward “Baahubali: The Eternal War” started long before anyone saw the world on screen. He’s already built an entire mythology once for the two-part “Baahubali” epic. including an extensive backstory for Mahishmati and Kunthala—its people. traditions. and philosophy. Now he’s trying to do it again. only this time he’s betting the biggest emotions and images belong to animation.

At the 2026 Annecy Animation Film Festival. a work-in-progress presentation put “Baahubali: The Eternal War” in front of audiences. carrying with it the promise of a scale that doesn’t usually fit the medium’s usual boundaries. Rajamouli has said he has limited exposure to animation—because. in India. the medium is mostly treated as kid fare—but he’s also argued that animation can hold stories with real emotional weight.

What’s being built is a feature film set between the two live-action “Baahubali” movies. In the story. as Rajamouli describes it. the premise begins right after Baahubali’s death: he must go through the 14 realms of the afterlife in Indian mythology. The idea was pitched by writer/director Ishan Shukla, known for “The Bandits of Golak” episode of “Star Wars: Visions.”.

Rajamouli says he approached the world-building in a way that went far beyond plot. Writing “Baahubali” was framed as his first time world-building for a movie. meaning the team didn’t only write the main story—they also crafted a wide backstory for Mahishmati and Kunthala. He told IndieWire after the Annecy presentation that. as they created those worlds and characters. they generated moments that were sometimes as dramatic or more dramatic than the scenes in the film itself.

The timing of a “Baahubali” feature in this new form has also mattered. Since the release of “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” in 2017. there have been novels. comic books. two animated series. and even a video game. Yet. Rajamouli says it took until now for someone to come up with a “good enough story” for a “Baahubali” feature film.

That story is where animation starts to feel less like a technical choice and more like a storytelling demand. Rajamouli pointed to how Indian mythology offers vivid descriptions about characters from other worlds—and he argued animation is the only place where those descriptions can be given their full weight. In his telling, Shukla was the right person to carry the franchise to its next step.

The footage shown at Annecy leaned hard into what animation can stretch: the epic scope of the live-action “Baahubali” films combined with the stylized look of recent CGI animated projects like “Arcane.” In the work-in-progress material. there are dynamic fight scenes in zero gravity amid floating ruins. two-headed elephants. flying fortresses. mighty gods. dancing. and more.

The production itself is built like a global operation. Rajamouli says it requires collaboration between eight studios across the world—from India to France and even Japan. He also named Studio Khara. the studio behind the “Rebuild of Evangelion” movies. as working on a special sequence for the film. Even with that many hands involved. Rajamouli emphasized the importance of letting the team’s instincts show up—putting their own spin on the franchise.

He also chose how much to steer the project himself. As a producer on “The Eternal War. ” Rajamouli took the team through how “Baahubali” was made. including its characters—how they behave and why they behave that way—so the fundamentals were built into the process. He said he gave them an overall view of the world and then trusted them to move it forward. partly to give Shukla room to make the story his own. and partly because Rajamouli admitted he doesn’t have sufficient familiarity with animation tools to be more heavily involved.

But this isn’t a dead end for his personal ambitions. Rajamouli insists he wants to get deeper into animation. He credits a brief introduction to animation during his film “Eega. ” where the titular fly character gave him tools to start creating larger. more complex VFX sequences in his blockbuster movies. Now, after working on “The Eternal War,” the desire to go bigger has only increased.

“I am dying to make a full-length animation feature myself one day, if the universe can conspire,” Rajamouli teased.

In the meantime, he’s already collecting inspiration from animation’s wider worlds. He said he recently got introduced to anime and named “Demon Slayer” and “Attack on Titan” as shows that inspire him. Rajamouli added that he finds it “mind-bogglingly good” how much emotion anime carries. and he wants to do something in that space—looking forward to learning more.

Even as “Baahubali: The Eternal War” moves through animation’s next phase, Rajamouli is still finishing live action. He said he is finishing his latest live-action movie, “Varanasi,” described as a globetrotting epic spanning millennia. The story, he said, is about gods and humans fighting in endless wars. The film stars Mahesh Babu. and Rajamouli described a striking battle image: Mahesh Babu riding a bull and wielding a trident in battle with the pyramids in the background.

Rajamouli said they’re almost done filming “Varanasi,” with the big spectacle action sequences already shot. He said. “I’m close to finishing shooting the movie. ” and explained that the work now shifts to the smaller scenes connecting the big sequences. When asked whether “The Eternal War” influenced how he’s approaching “Varanasi. ” Rajamouli said the two projects share his approach to filmmaking and his goal of making movies that move audiences.

“If I can make at least a few people in the audience look towards India, that’s a great achievement,” he said.

S. S. Rajamouli Baahubali: The Eternal War Annecy 2026 Ishan Shukla Baahubali Mahishmati Kunthala anime inspiration Demon Slayer Attack on Titan Varanasi Mahesh Babu Studio Khara Arcane