Director Siddharth Anand revealed that Dimple Kapadia wasn't part of 'Pathaan' initially and her role was written for actor Kumud Mishra. He added he changed the character's gender after watching Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet', an action-thriller film which also featured Dimple. "I felt she would add...sense of warmth to Shah Rukh because his equation with women is...fantastic," Siddharth said.