There has been a simmering rivalry between the Padmaavat hunks Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh both onscreen and off of it. While Ranveer has grabbed eyeballs with his flamboyant and flashy Khilji, Shahid has still managed to hold ground with his strong and resilient Maharawal Ratan Singh. While wife Mira Rajput has been declaring that he was the finest performance in the film, Shahid himself has also posted comparisons like ‘subtle confidence vs loud over-acting’.

Now, he has put the fat in the fire, so to speak, again…

When asked if he would have liked to play the conqueror, Alauddin Khilji, Shahid responded, “Of course. Which actor would not wish to play a character like Khilji in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film? You know, once on 'Koffee with Karan', Ranveer said he would have done my role in Kaminey better than me... I would have done Khilji differently.”

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Now that is news, alright! However, Shahid, probably realizing that he had already said too much, they chose to play it safe. Quizzed on what his approach to playing Khilji would have been, he maintained, “Firstly, I do not want to get into those details. Always remember, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is the hero of all his films and us actors come second. So whether it is the loud and larger than life character of Khilji or the subtleness of Ratan Singh, everything was governed by Sanjay sir. So, this is his vision of his. What I just said about performing differently, is because we are two different actors and our style of acting is different.”

There is clearly not much love lost between the two actors. On set too, they pretty much stayed in the role. “I was Rawal Ratan Singh, who doesn't react much, so I underplayed on the set as well. I was in my zone, listening to music, in between the scenes,” shrugs Shahid.

He does, however, admit that being pitched against the talented Ranveer, also brought out the best in him… “The dynamics of two characters - Khilji and Maharawal Ratan Singh - was quite interesting for an actor to play. I would say that the scenes between me and Ranveer were some of the best in the film. So, I got that adrenaline rush up my game to get all the scenes right. It improves our performance.”
Competition does bring that keen edge.