‘Shah Rukh Khan is the villain of Veer Zaara’: How Manoj Bajpayee explained his character’s perspective to angry Pakistani woman

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“After every shot, he would say that till the time people talk about this film, they will talk about this role. I would think that he is just saying it just like that, I was just being sincere and doing it. But he was right,” He said. Manoj said that once, a Pakistani woman walked up to him to criticise his negative role in the film as he was the main obstacle between Veer and Zaara. Manoj laughed and recalled what he told that woman and said, “I said you are not thinking from his point of view. He is engaged to her and she is going out with someone else, and you are hating me for it. When I got this role, I was thinking from my character’s perspective and for me, Shah Rukh was the villain of that story.”

In an earlier chat with YouTuber Siddharth Kannan, Manoj said that Yash Chopra was adamant about his casting in Veer Zaara. “Yash ji kehte bhi the ki ‘beta, yeh ab hojaega kyunki pata nahi kab kaam karenge tere saath main tere jaise actors ke liye film nahi banata (Yash ji used to say, ‘Son, this will happen now because I don’t know when I’ll work with you. I don’t make films for actors like you),” he said.