Speaking on his role, Vicky Kaushal revealed that his character is an "amalgamation of three or four other friends" of Dutt and is thus "fictionalized".
Paresh Rawal stated that he could not "look like Sunil Dutt" following the look tests but had to "portray the emotions, the 'jazba' (passion) that he had for the country, for his family and for his son"
Sanjay Dutt made a surprise visit on the film sets one day. Ranbir Kapoor shot many scenes in front of him and asked him for approval.
After watching footage of Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Dutt told her that she was the splitting image of his mother Nargis.