With the advancement in technology, reliance on VFX and CGI is increasing. But some filmmakers shoot in an old-fashioned way by building actual sets so that they avoid travelling, and the look remains authentic, as VFX cannot add authenticity. One upcoming movie has a huge city-sized set that is worth Rs 50 crore. It is the most expensive set in the history of Indian Cinema. SS Rajamouli is currently filming his next movie with Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra. Tentatively, the movie is titled SSMB29. This is an action movie, and a part of this is set in Varanasi. Rajamouli reportedly recreated the full city of Kashi with its ghats and temples in Hyderabad. He recreated the set as filming on the actual location is not logistically possible. Recreating the look of temples and ghats is quite difficult and shows how grand the movie would be. The set’s cost is Rs 50 crore.
Other Expensive Sets:To comprehend how absurd the concept of a Rs 50-crore set is, one must keep in mind that Devdas, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, was India's most costly movie for many years. The lavish sets were a major factor in the movie's exorbitant costs. Despite this, its entire budget was less than Rs 50 crore. In 2002, Chandramukhi's kotha in Devdas cost Rs 12 crore.
Prabhas' The RajaSaab, another Telugu pan-India movie, too boasts a stunning set that its creators claim is the biggest indoor set in the world. The set, which covered 38,000 square feet and took six months to construct, has no known cost.
Similarly, the greatest sets for Bajirao Mastani, Heeramandi, Baahubali, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo, and Thugs of Hindostan all cost between Rs 15 to 20 crore. For Bombay Velvet, Anurag Kashyap also invested crores to recreate the 1960s Bombay in Sri Lanka.