{"id":892973,"date":"2026-09-12T12:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892973\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T12:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T12:00:10","slug":"manoj-bajpayee-recalls-working-with-yash-chopra-in-shah-rukh-khan-and-preity-zinta-starrer-veer-zaara-he-didnt-promise-me-anything-but-i-was-very-happy-just-facin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/892973\/","title":{"rendered":"Manoj Bajpayee recalls working with Yash Chopra in Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta starrer \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019: \u2018He didn\u2019t promise me anything, but I was very happy just facing the camera\u2019 |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manoj National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee<\/a> recently looked back on some of his most memorable experiences from working on the iconic romantic drama \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019. The actor recalled shooting for the film alongside director Yash Chopra<\/a> and revealed that he had no expectations from his relatively small role, even though he was thrilled to be part of the much-anticipated Shah Rukh Khan<\/a> starrer.Bajpayee shared the memories during an interview with Divya Dutta and director Ben Rekhi in Mumbai\u2019s Andheri West while promoting their upcoming film \u2018Last Man in Tower\u2019.<\/p>\n

Manoj Bajpayee recalls shooting for \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019 in Amritsar and Film City<\/p>\n

Speaking to IANS, Bajpayee recalled that he spent only a few days shooting for \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019, with portions filmed at Film City and in Amritsar.\u201cI enjoyed myself while working on that film. For three days I was there on the sets of the film. One day at Film City and two days in Amritsar. So, it was quite good. I shot those two, three sequences that I had,\u201d he said.For Bajpayee, however, the biggest highlight was getting an opportunity to work with Yash Chopra, a filmmaker he had long admired.\u201cThe biggest advantage was that I was working for Mr. Yash Chopra. I always wanted to work with him,\u201d he said.The actor also recalled Chopra being candid with him about the kind of films he made and the roles he typically offered.\u201cBut he told me very honestly that he doesn\u2019t make films for actors like me. And he was very candid about it. I didn\u2019t mind it at all because there\u2019s somebody that honest, and a man of that stature. You just love him for his honesty,\u201d Bajpayee recalled.<\/p>\n

Manoj Bajpayee says he had no expectations from his \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019 role<\/p>\n

Despite the film\u2019s enormous anticipation and its star-studded cast, Bajpayee said he approached his role without expecting it to become particularly significant.\u201cHe didn\u2019t promise me anything. But I was very happy just facing the camera under his direction. So, I got a few days to spend with him,\u201d he said.The actor also remembered the warmth he received from Chopra during the Amritsar schedule. According to Bajpayee, the filmmaker went out of his way to make him feel welcome.\u201cHe took great care of me in terms of my food, the party, everything. He just treated me with so much warmth,\u201d he recalled.Bajpayee further admitted that he was \u201cexpecting nothing from the role\u201d given that \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019 was a Yash Chopra film featuring a major superstar and was already one of the most anticipated releases at the time.\u201cHe got everybody together to party with me in the evening in Amritsar saying, \u2018Manoj is a guest\u2019. So, everybody should be really there,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Manoj Bajpayee\u2019s role in \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019<\/p>\n

Released in 2004, \u2018Veer-Zaara\u2019 starred Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta as star-crossed lovers separated by the India-Pakistan divide, with Rani Mukerji playing a pivotal role in the story.Bajpayee portrayed a police officer who arrests and subsequently plays a role in the imprisonment of Shah Rukh Khan\u2019s character, Veer Pratap Singh, on charges of spying. Although his screen time was limited, Bajpayee\u2019s appearance in the film remains one of the memorable supporting performances in the Yash Chopra classic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National Award-winning actor Manoj Bajpayee recently looked back on some of his most memorable experiences from working on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,75,309330,75676,337,31295,8247,8246,73532,15476],"class_list":["post-892973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-last-man-in-tower","tag-manoj-bajpayee","tag-movies","tag-preity-zinta","tag-rani-mukerji","tag-shah-rukh-khan","tag-veer-zaara","tag-yash-chopra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}