I am jealous of Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Karan Johar

Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar says he is jealous of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ability to create a visually-appealing cinematic experience for the audiences through his films.

Karan also said Bhansali is "on the top of his game" and that he is eagerly waiting for his magnum opus, "Padmavati" to release.

"I am jealous. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is one of the most visually amazing filmmakers and he is on top of his game. The way he paints a visual, it is amazing and no one else can do it. I am envious. He is brilliant and I aspire to be there. It motivates me to see his work.

"When I see Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh on the posters of 'Padmavati'... I am dying to see the film, I want to see the film. We all should keep pushing ourselves to better ourselves," Karan said.

The director was speaking with Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor at the Jio MAMI Movie Mela's 'The Big Talk'.

Talking about the work of contemporaries, Ranbir said he once used to be a jealous competitor, who would want to do every good part his peer was doing.

"You see something on the screen and you feel bad. You feel, 'I wish I could do it'. You feel bad but you feel inspired as well. Earlier on, I was competitive and jealous.

Then you reach a point where it is about your own survival, about how good you are and treating yourself as your own competition and trying to be better.

"So these things happen in different phases. Like now when I see Varun Dhawan in 'Judwaa 2', I am so happy for his success and that so early on he has created such a big audience for himself."

Growing up, Alia said that she did not like losing but over a period of time, she has learnt to like and be inspired by her contemporaries' body of work.

The actor added that she too liked Deepika's look in the "Padmavati" poster.