Being the son of a yesteryear actor opens up a world of possibilities in Bollywood. But Rati Agnihotri’s son, Tanuj Virwani has a story that seems to differ from this ideology. He made his debut with Joe Ranjan’s Luv U Soniyo and has had quite a journey since then. The actor who cemented a solid place for himself in the digital world does not shy away from talking about his failures, the trolls he faced, and what it takes to last in the world of glam and glitz.
A turn around
After a brief stint with Hindi cinema and a series of failures that followed, Tanuj tasted success with his role of a hot-headed and celebrated cricketer in the Inside Edge series. He recalls the time before the show when things seemed weary and dull for the star. “My first years in the business were not the nicest as three of my films didn’t work. During that period, I questioned my talent. There was also an added pressure being Rati Agnihotri’s son. You see people are nice to you if you are a star kid, but the phones eventually stop ringing after a failure. So you can say that I am here today because of Inside Edge,” shares Tanuj.
Wicked ambitions
The good run of Inside Edge continued with Code M and now the star is currently joining the success of the latest outing — The Tattoo Murders. Set in Kamathipura, Tanuj plays a local don's character, Prahar Pratap, who controls Kamathipura. “Prahar is a dark and wicked character. He is a fear-mongering bossman of his area. A series of gruesome murders, a battle with a police officer, that’s all that I can reveal now. But, playing this don character was something new for me and I must tell you, I had a blast on the sets,” shares the actor.
Tanuj might be relatively new in the showbiz industry but has quite an impressive range of roles in his kitty already. So, it was obvious that we were curious if Tanuj has any dream roles. We shot our questions, to which he replied, “I am not a fan of fun or frolic characters. Intense and gritty thrillers are my thing. I would like to play an Indianised version of Michael Corleone from the Godfather films or something like Al Pacino from Scarface and Amitabh Bachchan did in Agneepath.”
For a better future
Tanuj also adds that he is currently working on an interesting project for ALT Balaji titled Cartel. Besides this mafia drama, his future lineup of shows seems to be only getting better. “I cannot wait for you guys to see what’s coming up. To name a few, there is Tandoor, based on the real-life murder case, there is also detective drama that will start soon, and Inside Edge’s season three is also on the cards,” informs Tanuj before signing off.
The Tattoo Murders is currently streaming on Disney+ Hostar.