She knew Chopra made "dark films", but decided to meet him. After returning, Chandra met Chopra at Natraj Studios. She made him listen to two or three of her ideas, among which he liked one and asked her to develop it. Chandra finished the script and dialogues by a year, until a day when Chopra himself called her and suggested that they should make a love story set in another era instead of the present time. This provoked Chandra; she could not sleep that night. However, she became excited in the next few days. She had grown up amidst the Indian freedom struggle, so she decided to place the story at that time. This formed the core plot for 1942: A Love Story. Casting Aamir Khan had initially been offered the role of Narendra; but he declined. Anil Kapoor was then approached, who was hesitant to do the film and suggested Bobby Deol and Aamir Khan for the role. However, he was later convinced. To prepare himself for the role, Kapoor worked hard — he lost weight, cut short his hair, trimmed his moustache and worked on his costumes to create the character. Shah Rukh Khan was under consideration for the role later done by Raghuvir Yadav; he did not feature as he had already been playing lead roles. Jackie Shroff was cast as Shubankar. He gave financial assistance to the film. For instance, some (extra) houses built at the film's set (which were first disapproved of by Vidhu Vinod Chopra due to the limited budget) were paid for by Shroff. Moreover, he also paid composer R. D. Burman on behalf of Chopra when he made them listen the music of the film for the very first time. Chopra had crafted the role of Rajeshwari Pathak alias Rajjo in accordance to Madhuri Dixit; lyricist Javed Akhtar had also kept her in mind while penning the lyrics for "Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To". By the time the film was launched, Dixit had packed schedules, which meant she couldn't do the film. Manisha Koirala, who had given an audition for the role of Rajjo's sister (the role was later excluded from the film), was then asked by Chopra to give a screen test. But, after seeing Koirala enacting a scene, Chopra deemed her a "terrible actress". Koirala, however, asked him for a second chance. She went back home, practised her lines and