Talking about the movie Saathiya, it was directed by Shaad Ali and produced by Mani Ratnam and Yash Chopra. The movie that released in 2002, was a remake of Mani Ratnam's Tamil classic Alaipayuthey.

Manoj Bajpayee shared that despite having only a cameo in Veer-Zaara, Yash Chopra paid him the same fee he earned as a lead actor. He also recalled asking for a bigger role, only for the filmmaker to candidly admit that he rarely made films for actors like him