I was hooked onto the street food in Lucknow-Kangana Ranaut
10:20 AM
Posted by Fenil Seta
Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; May 18, 2015)
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.
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.
This entry was posted on October 4, 2009 at 12:14 pm, and is filed under
Aanand L Rai,
Interviews,
Kangana Ranaut,
Kangana Ranaut interview,
Lucknow,
Rizvi House,
Tanu Weds Manu,
Tanu Weds Manu Returns
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