Manoj Bajpayee Says People Are 'Biased' Towards SRK in Veer Zaara: 'He Was Villain; You're Hating Me?'

Released in 2004, Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta starrer Veer Zaara remains one of the most loved movies to date. In the film, Manoj Bajpayee also made an extended cameo and played the role of Zaara’s to-be husband, Raza. His character makes all possible efforts to make sure Zaara does not marry Veer, an Indian.

In a recent interview, Manoj Bajpayee opened up about the allegation that his character destroyed the love story of Veer Zaara. He recalled a lady came up to him and called him “negative” for the same.

“A lady came up to me and said, ‘You did such a negative thing. You destroyed Veer and Zaara’s life. I said, ‘Wow. You are not looking from the man’s (Raza in Veer Zaara) perspective. He is engaged. His to-be wife is going around with another man. And you are hating me? This is great morality! These are great ethics!'” Manoj told Pinkvilla.

“I was doing it considering that my to-be wife is engaging in an extramarital. How would one tolerate? Would a lady tolerate if her man engages in an extramarital? If not, why would the man have a problem too?” he added.

The actor further explained that for Raza, Veer aka Shah Rukh Khan was a villain in the movie. “When I am given a role, I think from the character’s perspective. Then I will be able to make it believable. That’s how my thought process was while approaching the role. For me, Shah Rukh was the villain (laughs). For Raza, Shah Rukh was a bad man. Since Raza was powerful, he could trap them. If he was not powerful, he would commit suicide somewhere, right? Or he would spend the rest of his life as ‘Devdas’. A man does whatever he can, in his own limits (laughs),” he argued.

Manoj Bajpayee concluded by saying that the audience never looked at Veer Zaara from this perspective because they are “biased towards the heroes.”

Meanwhile, on the work front, Manoj Bajpayee was most recently seen in Silence 2. The web series also starred Prachi Desai and received a positive response from the audience. Next, Bajpayee has already started filming for his much-awaited, Family Man 3. Besides this, the actor is also gearing up for the release of BhaiyyaJi, which will hit theatres on May 24, 2024.