Manoj Tiwari takes to the stage for Farhan Akhtar

Manoj Tiwari who is playing himself in Farhan Akhtar's Lucknow Central shot for his special appearance on Monday at a Chandivali Studio. 

Farhan's character is a huge fan of superstar Manoj Tiwari and aspires to be like him. "I wouldn't have had so much fun had I been cast as the lead as I did playing this part," exults Manoj.

Manoj's scene in the film was a concert sequence while Farhan's character trying to reach Manoj Tiwari, who's performing on stage, and failing to do so. "Farhan had already canned his shots so he was not present on the sets," says the source. "However, Ravi Kissen dropped by to meet Manoj." Manoj was all praise for debutant director Ranjit Tiwari, who he described as "extremely sharp" and confided that he'd been shown some rushes and was really impressed. Quiz him about Ravi's surprise visit and he beams, "He waited for four hours till I wrapped up my shoot around 1 am and then took me to his house for dinner. Such greatness!" exclaims Manoj.

Lucknow Central' is set against the backdrop of a jail, where Farhan plays the role of a prisoner, aspiring to be a Bhojpuri singer. 

Produced by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures, the film is directed by Ranjit Tiwari, and is slated to release on 15th September 2017.