Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has fond memories of his early collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan and Manoj Bajpayee, calling them rare talents who brought unique energy to the set. Bhatt directed SRK in "Chaahat" (1996) and "Duplicate" (1998), while he collaborated with Bajpayee on "Tamanna" and "Dastak". "Shah Rukh is a rare bird. He is an actor who is inexhaustible. He`s one actor on the set you can say, `Do it once again`. And he never gets tired. He has that abundant energy that will dazzle you and he genuinely has a king`s heart," Bhatt told PTI in an interview. "I`m the only person who`s made two flops with Shah Rukh in his heyday. But irrespective of the box office, his relationship with me only got warmer and deeper. He has a gaze towards life, which is beyond the box office because movies are a part of our lives, they`re not our entire life," he said. Khan most recently won his career`s first best actor National Film Award for his film "Jawan".

Bhatt also praised Bajpayee`s evolution as an artist over the years, and said more recently he was struck by his performance in "The Family Man". "Manoj always wanted to be much more than what was being offered to him and I laid my eyes on him in `Swabhiman`. Then he made his foray with me in `Tamanna`..." A few years ago, I saw `The Family Man`, and I called him up and said, `Oh my god, you`ve dazzled me`. I thought he was capable of only this much. But seldom do actors evolve and outshine their own best work. It was so heartening to see him do that," Bhatt recalled.