Mumbai: Right now Murshid show starring Kay Kay Menon in the lead on ZEE 5 has become the talk of the town. The show is receiving an astounding response, while one actor too who stood out with his outstanding performance is none other than actor Tanuj Virwani. Tanuj has been in several OTT shows and has proved his versatility over the years. Zee News exclusively spoke to the actor about his journey from Bollywood to OTT and more.
Talking about his current show Murshid, when quizzed if he was doubtful about doing the role, he said, ” Every time an actor signs up for different roles, there is the confidence that he will do it, but also there is doubt will the audience will accept this time, we constantly have to wrestle that, once you sign up you have to give your 100 per cent otherwise you will get caught in the camera. Also doing Murshid was a good change, I am not a trained actor, but I got the opportunity to work with very good talent, and at the same time it is not a main lead, but a strong supporting role and I was okay with it. If you see my trajectory, I have not been the guy who only wants to do a main role, and do roles that create an impact”
Tanuj gives all the credit to the OTT platform for surviving as an actor, he recalled, “When I signed up for Inside Edge People told me, ‘What’s wrong with you, this is not even television, this is YouTube content.’ I don’t think I would have had a career or survived it if OTT hadn’t been there. I was clear that I didn’t want to do television., so yes, OTT made me survive. And not just me, many actors had the talent but not the platform to showcase it.”
Not many know but Tanuj is also the son of Bollywood’s veteran actress Rati Agnihotri, when asked about the struggle despite being an outsider he said, “I don’t know about other star kids, luckily I never got tagged as a star kid, because I didn’t have a big launch. Everything happened in my life very gradually, my mom (Rati Agnihotri) never reached up to anyone to ask for work for me. When you see failure, you strive for more success, Nobody has got a 100 percent success rate, so you need to keep experimenting.”
When asked if there was a time he questioned about being in the wrong profession, he said, ” It is a very tricky and up-and-down industry, when work doesn’t come it can get pretty lonely and dark, but you have to ask yourself, if you have it in, and if the answer is yes, then just keep on your process. This industry is not for the faint-hearted. The biggest superstars have to struggle, everyday they have to work on getting better”, he concluded.
