Deepika was sitting in her heavy jewelry observing the entrance of the grand hall when Ranveer entered the hall. Her stomach growled under her elaborate costume, she hadn't eaten since morning, mostly because she was determined for this scene she was doing with Shahid and Ranveer.

Ranveer wore the same ginormous fur coat and hideous makeup, but none of it impressed her this time, in fact, his walk seemed tacky, fake and rather clownish to her as he literally swayed from side to side while following the camera, they would have to add really dark background music to sell it to the audience. She wondered why in the world Bhansali was so obsessed with his acting chops when he was hamming. The stomach growled some more.

Her gaze turned to Shahid and she cringed at his pompous demeanor. He sat too straight, to his credit, like a Rajput posing for a painting, but his hands lay awkwardly outwards hinting bulky muscles under his arms, though there were none. She wasn't amazed when the camera turned to him only when it got too close. It added to his size on the screen. The film critics would shag themselves to his expressions, or the lack of them, Deepika thought to herself. A cheese sandwich randomly popped up in her thoughts as well.

The camera, as on the day before, moved backward to overlook the entire courtroom set-piece; it rose to Deepika's height and within a moment, both men were in the frame in a majestic display of their power and character.

Then the camera turned to Deepika. What was it that Bhansali had said, she tried recalling. But she didn't care about that, she knew what was going to do.

The camera turned to Rani Padmavati observing the two men from above, who claimed their right over her body, on account of tradition, pride, lust, and strength. One of them she loved, and one she abhorred, but in this weird display of power, they didn't seem much different to her.

For the first time in years, the jewels weighed too heavy on her body and the clothes irritated her skin. She had always been one with whatever she wore up until this point in her life; her clothes, her looks, her behavior, everything was what the men in her life had prescribed, but at this moment, she was just a stylized trophy these men would fight over and the victor would do as he sees fit.

There was Khilji, who would rape her body repeatedly until she died of it or committed suicide because he feels he has the right over beauty. And the slightly better choice, her beloved husband Rana Rawal Rattan Singh, who had claimed her from her father when he was already married before because he was mesmerized by the same beauty. Her beauty had crippled her in this man's world.

"AND, CUT IT!!!" Bhansali screamed over the microphone. He instinctively stood up where he sat by the monitor and began clapping. The crew was clueless about what had come over him but they clapped, anyway. Bhansali moved to the center of the hall with Ranveer and Shahid's expectant eyes following him hungrily for praise.

"THAT WAS SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL, DEEPIKA! AMAZING! AMAZING WORK!"

More applause thundered. Ranveer joined in with a surprise as well. Bhansali thudded the top of the microphone that made an annoying echo in the empty hall. Deepika smiled for the first time that day.

The scene was done. Bhansali said this could be Deepika's career-best performance, Shahid and Ranveer complimented as well, but she was septic of their praise. They were actors after all.

She felt better. This was the only scene in the film in which all the three stars featured together. The scene was hers, she was immensely proud. All she wished, for now, was a small pastry. A fruit salad would also do just fine.

Little did she know, destiny had it different for that scene; due to mass protests by self-proclaimed saviors of Rajput pride, the scene would never make to the final cut of the film.

A little later...

Deepika was inclined backward on the steps of her van. Getting inside the vehicle with the costume turned out to be a little difficult, and a lot more fun than she had expected. She let out a hearty laugh fumbling her feet on the steps as her makeup girl along with Sharin pulled her up by the arms while the on-set dress designer pushed her from behind. She finally made it into the van where she would until they prepared the set for the next scene.

The rest of the day wasn't as heavy-duty as the previous scene, just some walking the corridors and entering the rooms and probably some tight beauty close-ups of the queen, all of them requiring her to still be in costume.

She waded towards the makeup chair, lifted the lehenga and dropped it over the revolving stool that the lehenga engulfed, and sat her bum down. She would have to wait on the uncomfortable stool as sofas and lehengas didn't get along well. But that wasn't on her mind right now.

She reached for the drawer and fished out a juice tetra pack which she handed to Sharin who after piercing the pack handed it back. Deepika dragged a long sip.

A little later, Ranveer showed up...

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