Actor Tanuj Virwani made the headlines with the role of Yu Raghavan in the 2017 Amazon Original Television Series Inside Edge. Later, he acted with Sunny Leone in Code M, Poison and Sah-Majbani’s MTV Splitsvilla 15. Now, he is seen in Rana Naidu season 2 – an action crime drama on Netflix directed by Karan Anushuman and Supern Verma. This is the official conversion of the 2013 American crime drama TV series Re Donovan. Tanuj will be liked with other people along with Venkatesh Daggubati, Rana Daggubati, Survey Chawla. He told Zee News Digital about his upcoming show, OTT or cinema – what he likes and works with experienced actress and mother Rati Agnihotri.
Q. How did Rana Naidu 2 happen?
Well, I am a huge fan of the first season and I was too out and out when it comes to mentioning Karan Anshuman again and again. He and I walk for a long time because he is also my shorner for ‘Inside Edge’. We worked together in three sessions of that show and so, of course, we know each other well. He knows me as an artist well and he has especially written this role for me and I can’t be happy. The day he told me, I knew that this is something I had to do.
Q. Tell us about your character in the sequel.
That’s why I am essaying the character of Chirag Oberoi. Without a lot of details, I can tell you that the Oberoi family has a lot of different pieces and some people need to take care. Eternal and ultimate fixer comes in Rana. You have Rajat Kapoor playing the role of my father and Kriti Kharband plays my sister. Trust me, this is a crazy-cap family.
Q. We saw you Splitsvilla co-hosting with Sunny Leone. Tell us about it.
It was a wonderful experience. If you asked me this question a few years ago, I think my answer will not be very certain because I had never hosted anything in my career. It is in my school or college, nothing literally. But when the opportunity came and I knew that Sunny was associated with the show for so long and I and I go a long way because we had a film with ‘One Night Stand’. I just thought that I should take a jump of faith and try to do something different. I have never dubbed in reality TVs in any capacity and so I really hurt that I took that dip because it was really worth my time.
Q. Ott or cinema, what do you like more?
This is ‘horses for courses’ that I think. Some materials are best suited for large screens while some materials, in particular, longer, large stories find their right home in OTT space. Personally, for me, as an audience or actor, there is nothing that comes close to a dark hall from a distance who is watching a film. This is a community experience. You are reacting to similar things with many other strangers around you, all are tied together with your love for cinema. Experiences and emotions are at the top. On the other hand, OTT is a very exciting domain because it is not about 1-2 actor, but a whole dress. I think due to the period of time, you can actually tell the story with too much flash and do justice to many characters. The character graph looks too full there.
Q. What are your future projects?
Well, after Rana Naidu 2, I have a film called Johnny Jumper where I play the title role. Its co-star Vijay Raj, Brijendra Kalra, Zakir Hussain and Zarina Wahab are also there. There is also ‘Dau’ aka ‘anti -terrorism unit’ which is a show manufactured by applause. It is a Mumbai-based crime drama, who is a co-star of Rahul. I also have a cute little ‘Rome Com’ called ‘Puppy Love’, which has Tridha Chaudhary, Divya Aggarwal and Nikki Tamboli
Q. Who is your favorite actor or actress in Bollywood?
Based on the current body of the work, I definitely feel that Ranbir Kapoor and Vicky Kaushal will be there. For actresses, it will be Alia Bhatt. But if you talk about my all-time favorite actor, it’s a no-meror that it is one and only Shahrukh Khan.
Q. Does Maa Rati Agnihotri recommend U Kama?
My mother and I share a cute bond with each other where she is my best friend and also my harsh critic. Many times, his advice for me is not particularly with acting, but it is more about how one should operate himself in this industry and how to ensure that some situations do not get me better. He always said that this is an industry where height can be very high and can be very low and lonely. Never let success come into your head and at the same time, never allow failure to rule your heart. Because, no matter how deep it becomes, the sun will grow and there will be a new day, there will be a new opportunity to prove your subtlety and catch glory.
