Ironically, the movie is obsessed with Rajputana "Aan-Baan-Shaan" most of which got lost in protests.
Bhansali unabashedly depicts a stark contrast between 'righteous' Hindu and 'dastardly' Muslim warfare cultures, and due to deficiency of shades of grey the movie greatly suffers from lack-of-depth syndrome. However, Bhansali tries to make up for it with magnificent visual poetry and his typical OCDness in set design.
Unlike Rajamouli, Bhansali doesn't invent laws of motion. Instead, he rewrites Indian geography. Chittorgarh looks like Pushkar crossed with Asgard and Valhalla, and Delhi looks like Agrabah from Arabian Nights. Moreover, Khilji's march to Chittorgarh seems easier than commuting to Gurugram from Delhi.
Shahid's Ratansingh doesn't have to do much apart from showing his righteousness and sinewy torso. Had he been born in the British Raj, he would have played a princely cricketer who could contribute little with bat and ball but had the Wisden memorized by heart. Time for Shahid to return to Mr Bharadwaj.
Deepika's Padmaavati is adorned to such an extent that her jewelry would outweigh her hubby's chain-mail. She's the reason why men must take caution in watching this movie with their beloved as V-Day looms by. She manages to boil the pot in the first half but comes on her own in the second. Her chemistry with Shahid is lukewarm at best.
Ranveer's Khilji is the reason why we all watched Jurassic Park - to see the T-Rex. He gobbles up meat with the same intensity and dwarfs everything around. His narcissism, grandiosity and menacing grin can give Gabbar Singh an inferiority complex. Compound it with a beefed up physique, dark soulless eyes and sexual monstrosity which is way more intense than that of rapists depicted in 90s flicks. His moments with Malik Kafur are the best this movie has to offer.
Had Bhansali named this movie as "Khilji Ka Aatank", he could have had lesser problems with CBFC and Karni Sena.
