Kangana Ranaut had done films only for adult-oriented audiences till 2011, till she did Aanand L Rai's romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu. The film not only became a hit, but got Kangana recognition as an actor as well as an entry into the hearts of every household. Her character in the original, Tanu, lives in Kanpur, but the film was shot in Lucknow. Aanand is a very emotional human being, who is not only deeply connected to his actors emotionally, but to each and every person who has worked with him in the film. And thus, it is no surprise that in his sequel Tanu Weds Manu Returns, he has cast every character that was there in the original. In fact, his whole team is the same. Now we all know that the nawaabi city of Lucknow is famous not just for its chikan work, but equally for its succulent Tunday Kebabs. But we may not know that Lucknow is also extremely famous for its chaat. Kangana has shot the film extensively in Lucknow and thus, it was no surprise when she chose to visit the city again to promote her film. She is a vegetarian so could not enjoy the Tunday Kebabs, but she made it a point to visit her favourite chaat joints in the city, her most favourite being 'Shukla Chaat House' on Hazratganj. And you may be expecting the beautiful Kangana to not be eating, but she ate her full Aloo Tikkis and full plate of Pani Ke Batashe. Excerpts from a quick conversation over chaat:


Anything special about Lucknow now or is it just another city for you?
I have many memories attached to this city. We had shot Tanu Weds Manu here and now again, I stayed here for over a month while shooting Tanu Weds Manu Returns. So whenever we would pack up early, we would go to 'Shukla Chaat House' or the chaat from there would come to our set. I had turned vegetarian so I was not so much into kebabs like Anandji, but I was hooked onto the street food and the Pani Ke Batashe.

Any attachments to any people or places here?
We shot in real locations. Earlier the 'Rizvi House' that in the film is Tanu's house, has had many films shot there, but they were all rich-looking shots. It's a 100 year-old house and we shot with the paint falling and the way it is. When people saw us shooting they thought that we were shooting like ours was not a mainstream film and was like a 'B' grade film. But then Tanu Weds Manu became a hit. Usually as actors, we don't meet the owners of the house. For me it was hard to identify that the 'Rizvi House' belonged to Dr Rishad Rizvi. To me, it was only Tanu's house. Since Tanu was from here, all her relatives are local actors and they all came to meet me. I found it so hard to imagine that they could have their own lives as to me, they were just Tanu's cousins. I have some beautiful memories of Lucknow. It was so lovely to see Shuklaji also so happy to see us again.