You don’t have to wait for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Padmavati to release (on December 1 or whenever) to watch the royal battle waged between the period drama’s two principal male characters – Maharana Rawal Ratan Singh and Allaudin Khilji. It’s already happening online, in the countdown to the film’s release, between the two Bollywood actors playing these historical characters: Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh. And the media, fuelled by furious feedback on social media by the actors’ respective fan clubs, is keeping score. Right now Ranveer’s Khilji is emerging the hero despite his character being the film’s villain.

Poor Shahid, he and everybody else feel he has been diddled out of a fair share of the publicity by an aggressive campaign led surreptitiously by none other than his screen nemesis – the mercurial Ranveer. It started with Padmavati’s trailer. Shahid expressed his disappointment over his lack of presence there by publicly stating that his role had been underplayed in the trailer. Rumours were that the actor had actually asked (demanded?) Bhansali to cut a separate trailer for his character Maharana Rawal Ratan Singh. Of course, that didn’t happen.

There was also the question of Padmavati’s posters. Shahid’s was sandwiched between Deepika Padukone’s as Rani Padmavati and Ranveer’s as Allaudin Khilji. His came and went without the buzz that accompanied theirs. Bollywood trade sources unkindly blamed Shahid for this state of affairs. “Who asked him to accept this role?” one veteran trade pundit asked. It was said that the role was offered by Bhansali to Pakistani actor Fawad Khan first. Then the filmmaker reportedly went to Shah Rukh Khan. But the Bollywood Badshah wasn’t interested because the role wasn’t meaty enough. Shahid supposedly came on board for a hefty pay cheque and the assurance of a good enough part.

The fight shifted overseas then when Padmavati’s international posters were exclusively released in the UAE’s Gulf News tabloid. Deepika’s poster created a flutter on social media sites immediately. But there was no mention of Shahid’s poster anywhere though it was released a day later. Now, it is said, the actor is waiting bitterly to see what sort of reception Ranveer’s poster receives when it hits foreign shores.

Shahid might have sought solace in today’s release of Padmavati’s new song Ek Dil Ek Jaan featuring the silent but passionate love between Deepika and him. And he had reason to, because the romantic number has been beautifully and sensitively picturised. But just when Ek Dil Ek Jaan began trending on social media, Shahid’s limelight was cut short by the sudden and unexpected arrival of Ranveer’s international poster that immediately began to overshadow the song. Who was the architect of this coup de grace? Sources said it was reportedly done by Ranveer’s fan clubs which had the poster all the while and were just waiting for Ek Dil Ek Jaan to come out to release the poster and cut into Shahid’s party. Ranveer himself officially came out with it five hours later, but by then the damage had been done.

https://twitter.com/RanveerOfficial/status/929312541859307520

Now there is talk that Shahid has further reason to feel insecure. With Bhansali having gone overboard in shooting Padmavati and now having to cut down at least 30 minutes of footage, the fear is that Shahid’s scenes will end up on the edit room’s floor. The actor has undoubtedly worked hard on getting into the character of Maharana Rawal Ratan Singh and would be distressed if this happened. In a cryptic comment Shahid went on to promise, “You have to wait for the film to discover the role.” He added that he had given Padmavati “200 per cent” and trusts the choices made by Bhansali.

Sadly, his comments were taken out of context and Shahid ended up getting trolled mercilessly. At the moment, while Deepika has engaged herself in promoting the film and Ranveer is in NYC preparing for his next film Gully Boys, Shahid has stoically decided to take a break.