Filmmaker Abhishek Chaubey whose cinematic journey took off with his debut Ishqiya, starring Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, and Arshad Warsi, shares interesting trivia behind the film's making. Chaubey admitted that the film was originally conceptualised with an entirely different cast, including Pankaj Tripathi, Irrfan Khan, and Preity Zinta.

Pankaj Tripathi was chosen to play Khalujan later played by Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan was about to play Babban later played by Arshad Warsi, while, Lara Dutta and Preity Zinta were approached for the role of Krishna, while  Zinta was confirmed for the role, but she backed out during the production phase. Abhishek Chaubey remembers meeting Irrfan Khan in New York who expressed concerns about his character in the script. This led Abhishek to rethink the cast and approached Naseeruddin Shah for the role.

After reading the script even Shah too expressed concerns, about whether he was the right choice for the role, since his character demanded a romantic side, while he had never romanced on screen before. The director tells how the veteran actor despite his reservations performed remarkably. Eventually, Arshad Warsi also joined the cast.