Padmaavat: Was Shah Rukh Khan original choice of Sanjay Leela Bhansali as Khilji? Know details

Shah Rukh Khan was the first choice of Sanjay Leela Bhansali to replace Ranveer Singh as Khilji in the iconic historical fiction saga film Padmaavat. This is how Deepika Padukone's reaction put the prolific Bollywood filmmaker in a tight spot.

Vrinda Mundara

First Published Jul 19, 2023, 11:37 AM IST

Padmaavat has to be one of the most controversial subject films, made and created in Bollywood in the post-2015 era. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's magnum opus faced immense opposition from the Karni Sena. The Rajput outfit and organization went on a rampage and started damaging the sets in Rajasthan. But troubles for Sanjay Leela Bhansali erupted from the casting phase only. As per a report in a leading Indian entertainment portal, this is true that at one point, Sanjay Leela Bhansali thought of casting Shah Rukh Khan as Alauddin Khilji. It feels like Ranveer Singh who delivered the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenal performance in the iconic film, had originally decided to back out. The reasons for the same are anonymous and unclear to the media even today.

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It seems Sanjay Leela Bhansali was totally unruffled by Ranveer Singh's decision. He bid a bye to the 'Bajirao Mastani' actor and headed straight to Mannat to offer the character to Shah Rukh Khan. The Jawan superstar heard the script and was warm with his Devdas director. It seems Shah Rukh Khan kept one condition for Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It looks like he told the noted filmmaker to give a different title to the movie as he felt his fans would not like watching him in a film named after the leading lady. It is really true that fans of all three Khans and Akshay Kumar are very possessive.

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This one particular condition put Sanjay Leela Bhansali in a difficult situation. The reason was Deepika Padukone told him she would leave the film if he changed the title of the movie. The filmmaker has a beautiful and warm relationship with Deepika Padukone, with whom he has given blockbusters like Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani. Shah Rukh Khan gave Deepika Padukone her Bollywood debut, and they have a string of superhit films together. But before Sanjay Leela Bhansali could get stressed out with this predicament, we saw how quickly Ranveer Singh returned back into the project.