‘Veer-Zaara’s 15th Anniversary: Rani Mukerji reveals never-heard-before details of the blockbuster film

Waking up this morning, people everywhere could talk about only Lata Mangeshkar’s health, and how she was recovering after her short hospital visit. However, soon we saw ‘Veer-Zaara’ start to trend. First, we assumed it must have been because the movie had some of the most mellifluous songs sung by the Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar. But, that wasn’t the reason. The Yash Chopra directorial completed 15 years today. Rani Mukerji, who was one of the most integral members of the movie spoke candidly about the film on this special occasion.

Rani Mukerji’s body of work makes her one of the most loved actors of our generation. One of her biggest blockbusters ‘Veer-Zaara’ completes 15 years of release and the iconic actress shared some unknown anecdotes from the film. “Yash uncle would never see the monitor,” she said.

Rani reveals, “There are 2 very distinct things that come to my mind when I think of Veer-Zaara. First, of course, will be working with the legendary Yash Chopra. Just to shoot with him was an experience by itself because when you shoot with a master like him you realise how great he is. His greatness was that he would never see the monitor! He was always behind the cameraman watching us and okaying the shots which were very new for me because the directors who I had worked with, used to be just very close to the monitor because that became the new age thing to do.”

She adds, “But when I shot with Yash uncle, I realised that how they (such iconic filmmakers) must be actually taking out work from actors because they were constantly looking at us standing next to the camera, calling for the shots. That was something really, incredibly special. He was the only director who wanted to feed us all the time to make sure we were happy and laughing!”

Rani had teamed up again with Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Veer-Zaara’. They had previously given us some timeless classic romantic films. However, this time they were not a couple romancing onscreen.

She says, “The other thing that I remember was seeing Shah Rukh in the old avatar which was really awkward for both of us. Before this, I had always romanced him and in this film, he had to look at me with the imagery of a daughter and I had to look at him as a father figure, which was a bit tough. Romancing Shah Rukh is much easier. So, I think that camaraderie that we had made us burst out laughing a lot of times much to the annoyance of Adi and Yash Uncle because they would be like you got to concentrate on the shot and Shah Rukh and me would start our giggle fit and it would never stop. These are the 2 main things I remember and of course, my outdoor with Yash uncle in Punjab. Punjab being his place, where he was born and brought up, the shooting experience was just incredible.”

For Rani ‘Veer-Zaara was an epic food fest! “There used to chat on the sets like every day, there was aloo paratha and white makhan – it was a food fest. ‘Veer-Zaara’ for me I just remember it as a food fest throughout,” she signs off.

Also Read: Lata Mangeshkar Birthday Special: Listen to the Nightingale’s seven classic songs

Prateek Sur

Born a Movie Buff, working as a Film Critique and enjoying life as a Bollywood Reporter.

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