How National Award For Pinjar Led To Manoj Bajpayee's Casting In Veer Zaara

Manoj Bajpayee is currently gearing up for the release of his upcoming film Bhaiyya Ji. The action-thriller will be the actor's 100th film, making it a significant moment in his career. In a conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Manoj spoke about the period when Yash Chopra became passionate about casting him in Veer Zaara. He played the role of Razaa Shirazi in the movie. 

Yash Chopra’s reason behind casting Manoj Bajpayee in Veer Zaara

Pinjar, one of Manoj's films, was among the many that were having a disastrous run at the box office in 2002. Although the film was a commercial failure, Bajpayee's performance earned him a National Award. For him, Pinjar was a blessing in disguise because it led to a role in a YRF film. 

The actor said, “I got a National award for Pinjar. But it did not work at the box office. But you know what Pinjar gave me? It gave me Veer Zaara. Yash ji saw the film and he was mesmerised and he was adamant on getting me to do that role in Veer Zaara.”

Manoj revealed Yash Chopra wanted to work with him at least once as he usually doesn’t make films for actors like him. The Joram star continued, “Nahi toh Yash ji ke saath hum jaise actors ki koi jagah he nahi thi. 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).” 

What is Veer-Zaara about? 

Veer-Zaara is a romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra starring Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta in lead roles. It also featured Rani Mukerji, Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Divya Dutta, Manoj Bajpayee, Boman Irani, Anupam Kher and Kirron Kher.

The movie revolves around an emotional love story of Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian Air Force officer, played by SRK and Zaara Hayaat Khan, daughter of a Pakistani politician, essayed by Zinta. The film was much liked for its story, performance by the cast of the movie and music.