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MUMBAI: Actor-host Tanuj Virwani stated in an exclusive interview with the popular news portal that he started his career in an ICU before 'Inside Edge' debuted in 2017. Long before it became the ‘IT’ game, the actor made his official debut in OTT. Tanuj claimed that the show helped him revitalize both his life and his profession. Aside from this, Tanuj talked about surviving in a field as competitive as the film industry. He also talked about collaborating on ‘Yodha’ with Sidharth Malhotra.
Tanuj Virwani, who portrayed Vayu Raghavan on the 2017 television series 'Inside Edge,' was questioned about the show's impact on his professional development. “100 per cent, It gave me a second lease of life, no doubt about that. At that point, my career was in the ICU. It helped me resurrect my career and get things back on track. At the end of the day, people may be like, ‘You are so-and-so’s son, you'll get work.’ I just want to say that's all rubbish. You are literally only as good or as bad as the last work that you have put out because your work is your best audition at the end of the day and people will decide based on that.”
He added, “‘Inside Edge’ was like the perfect storm, the right role that happened at the right point. There was also a certain angst inside of me to prove myself. And it kind of just went parallel with whatever Vayu [his character] had to do on the show. I was able to channel that in an authentic manner because I was facing that in my real life as well.”
Tanuj Virwani said, "Nothing can ever shape up to the way you visualise because what I've learned about life and this industry is the more you sit and make castles in the sky, the more you're setting yourself up for rejection. I visualise what I need to do, where I want to be five years from now. But I never think of what the audience response because I feel you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.”
He also said, “Trust the process, focus on the process, let the results happen automatically. I've really not thought this way or that. I used to do a lot of this early on in my career, and at every juncture, when things were not working out, I was just left high and dry and disappointed. So there's no point doing this, to be honest. Half my energy is going into daydreaming. No, you just have to be the best version of yourself and automatically, things come from the least expected places.”
How difficult is it to sustain in the ever-competitive film industry? Tanuj shared, “It's damn difficult. You can never just be like, ‘Now I have arrived’ because you just don't know, from what side of, or in what capacity, what ‘jhatka’ is going to hit you. It's a constantly evolving beast. So many of us found that out during the pandemic. It was such a troubling time and difficult phase for everyone, even for our industry.”
He further added, “The pandemic, touch wood, was weirdly good for me because a lot of actors were very scared of working, and they’d stay at home. For some reason, I'm like, I'm just going to take this leap of faith and continue doing what I love doing and the show must go on. If you look at my filmography and the shows I’ve done, in 2021, I had six shows that came out. It was like a crazy year, I was working round the clock. You just have to cash in wherever you can and just put in the work and hope for the best.”
Tanuj played a key role in Dharma-backed ‘Yodha’. He spoke to us about his takeaway from the film: “It gave me some sort of validation that I even got this film because as most actors would say, I too have been testing for Dharma films for the last 8-10 years. I would always get shortlisted and come this close, but I never actually got it. I'd get that infamous mail, ‘We regret to inform you, but it didn't work out this time. Hope to collaborate with you in the future.’ But this time I didn't even audition. I straight away got offered the part, and that was something that actually made me feel really good. And I'm like, ‘Maybe I am doing something right’ because it's not every day that you get such offers.”
Tanuj spoke about his collaboration with Sidharth Malhotra, “In whatever scenes we had together, he was a great person to have around; he's very hungry, diligent. He comes, learns his lines, knows what other actors are saying. He understands the situation, understands what's happened before in the context of the film. You cannot perform a film, scene, or standalone. It's not an audition. You need to have some gravitas of what has transpired and bring that certain energy.”
He further added, “I also feel that he, once being an assistant director, really helped in the entire thing. I really had a good time working with him, Raashii, as well. Unfortunately, I didn't have any work with Disha. But it's been fantastic. And even the response I've been getting from fans on social media is a good barometer of what's going right and what's going wrong for me as an actor. It's been largely positive, and I had a great time.”
In addition to having plenty of upcoming projects, Tanuj Virwani and Sunny Leone co-host 'MTV Splitsvilla X5'.
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Credit-India Today
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