I prefer Lucknow chaat more than its Mughlai food: Huma Qureshi

Gangs of Wasseypur actor Huma Qureshi terms her visit to Lucknow as home coming. The actor has stayed here in length during the shoot of her films Dedh Ishqiya (2013) and Jolly LLB (2016) as also during several promotional visits.

“It always seems like coming to my second home whenever I come to Lucknow. I don’t go to hometown (Delhi) as much as I come here. Now that I have shot two films here, I have become very familiar with the city,” she tells HT City while on a promotional visit ahead of her forthcoming film Dobaara: See the Evil.

“What I miss most about Lucknow is its chaat. People here come for kebabs and non-vegetarian dishes. But I am done with it probably because I come from a (restaurateurs) family they prepare very good food. So, what I like most here is vegetarian stuff and the handicraft. During my shoots, I used to cover myself and go out for shopping and savouring Shukla chaat. The beauty of this city is that it’s the only place where we both wear and savour chikan(kari) and chicken,” she says.

The actor then talks about Dobaara: See The Evil which is an official remake of 2013 sleeper-hit horror movie Oculus. She act in the movie along with her brother Saqib. “The makers wanted to come to India and we were offered the film. We both wanted to work together but never realized that we will get an opportunity so soon and in this way. Probably it has not happened before that real-life brothers and sisters play the same in a film and are also the lead protagonist,” she says and adds that it was easy but challenging working with her sibling as its both an advantage and disadvantage.

Huma calls it a pure horror film that caters to a larger audience. “We have seen stereotypical films which have blood oozing chudails (witches), a Ramu-kaka, bad make-up ghosts which we call tacky and they add some sleaze into it along with a club/romantic song. Most of the people come out laughing of the halls than getting scared. Such films don’t get family audiences though Indian audience has an appetite for good horror films. We don’t have any such thing in films and that’s why we are calling it a high-class international-level horror film for the Indian audience,” she says. This is her second film in the genre after Ek Thi Daayan.

She has also done Hollywood film Viceroy’s House with ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ director Gurinder Chaddha that has already released in the UK earlier this year. “It’s a love story of a Muslim girl and a Hindu boy set during the time of Partition (1947). We want to release the film around Independence Day.”

She is also upbeat about next instalment of Gangs of Wasseypur if at all it happens. The actor is also said to be working in superstar Rajni Kant’s next but avoids talking about it. Wait for an official announcement, she says.