As Yash Chopra’s epic romance ‘Veer-Zaara’ turns 12 years, we give you some interesting facts about the film that you may not have known before.
The film was originally titled ‘Yeh Kahaan Aa Gaye Hum’, after the song from ‘Silsila’ (1981), but Yash Chopra felt that ‘Veer-Zaara’ went better with the epic mood of the film.
‘Veer-Zaara’ is one of the few Indian movies to officially release its original tunes of songs and background music.
Yash Chopra used late composer Madan Mohan’s tunes for the film, which he felt suited the era that was being depicted on screen. Out of the hundreds of tunes in Mohan’s archives, 35 were tested to see if they would fit the mood of the film and eleven were selected by Aditya Chopra.
Karan Johar had designed all of Shah Rukh Khan’s costumes in the film.
Yash Chopra cast Preity Zinta because she was known to portray westernized roles, and he wanted someone who could easily transform into a character who was the complete opposite.
Amitabh Bachchan suggested Gurdas Mann to Yash Chopra to do his playback in the film, believing that Mann’s voice would best suit the ‘Lodi’ festival song.
Anupam Kher stars with his wife Kiron Kher in this film, although they don’t share the same frame.
The prison scenes were all shot in one day. Shah Rukh Khan had to wear a wig to portray the aged Veer in those scenes.
The character of Saamiya Siddiqui played by Rani Mukerji is based on Pakistani human rights activist and well-known lawyer Asma Jehangir. The role was initially offered to Aishwarya Rai but she had refused it.
Director of photography Anil Mehta slipped a sepia tint into the film to give it a “golden oldies” mood, and to convey the feeling of nostalgia and memories in the film. This kind of cinematography was later copied by other filmmakers.
Ajay Devgan was approached for the role which finally went to Manoj Bajpai.
The last courtroom scene where SRK reads out the poem ‘Main qaidi number 786’ was shot in a single take and was okayed in the first take itself. No retakes were taken for that scene.
Out of the five films Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have done together, this is the only one that has their characters are together as a couple by the end of the film.
