Manoj Bajpayee first appeared in Veer Zaara alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Priety Zinta. His performance was very convincing and years later, he opens up about why he chose to do this film. He appeared in an interview with Humans of Bombay where he talked about how excited he was to be working with national superstar Shah Rukh Khan. But he also revealed he worked mainly because Yash Chopra requested him to do so. He said, “No offence to him (Shah Rukh), but I did this film because Mr Yash Chopra called me up and requested me to be a part of it. He was a big fan of my performance in Pinjar and once he saw the film in Delhi with Lal Krishna Advani ji, Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji, he was thoroughly impressed with my performance. That’s when he thought of offering me this role.” He further said, “It was a guest appearance; I was there only for four-five days. He treated me as good as anyone on the sets. I was welcomed so royally in that film family, the Veer Zaara family. I enjoyed every moment of shooting with Yash Chopra ji.”