I had to prove myself time and again: Tanuj Virwani

Actor Tanuj Virwani has played the role of an Armyman in Dharma Production’s ‘Yodha’. The film stars Siddharth Malhotra, Disha Patani and Raashi Khanna in the lead. Tanuj was to do another project for Dharma, but ended up doing ‘Yodha’. The actor, who is the son of actress Rati Agnihotri, speaks exclusively to Adgully about his film, role, career and more.

How did you get the ‘Yodha’ role?

I was supposed to do another film for Dharma Productions, but it got shelved and did not happen. I was bummed because that was the first time I aced an audition and it went through. A few months later, they got in touch with me for this project and of course, I thought I had to go through the entire process again. But they were pretty clear that they wanted me, so I went to ‘Yodha’ without testing for it and it was a fantastic journey.

What kind of preparation did you have to do for this role?

I have got two looks in this character that went to do different periods in his specific life. For a younger look, I had shed some weight. I had to take some weapons training. I had to be well versed with certain jargon people from the ‘Yodha’ task force use to communicate with each other. For the older scenes, I had to learn some technical jargon because I am playing the on-ground flight commander who is kind of trying to oversee and defuse a hostage situation that has happened in the air. So, it was a lot of fun and I like these situations, where I can kind of revisit a character and at different points or junctures of his life. ‘Yodha’ was the perfect vehicle which offered me this chance.

Which was the toughest part of the shoot?

I guess one of the tougher parts of the shoot was during my older scenes mostly, which is happening inside the control room. I was interacting a lot more with the green screen than with any actor. As an actor, sometimes you feed off the energy of your co-stars, so that was the one thing that took a little time to adjust to. But my director made my life a lot easier because they not only gave me cues on the sets, but they also gave me other actor’s lines with emotions. I was trying to react and stay in the moment. It was a pretty intense shoot as it is an intense film. I found the entire experience to be deeply rewarding.

Despite you being from the film family, do you think you had your share of struggle in the industry?

Yes, of course, I think everyone has their fair share of struggle. We have this misconception that if you come from a film family, then it is like a walk in the park. But nothing can be further away from the truth. Because of your access or famous parents, you might get your initial break or two breaks, but after that, you are on your own. Ultimately the audience will decide whether you have what it takes or don’t. So, I had to prove myself time and again. It is kind of part and parcel of being an actor, it is also part of the joy. When you become complacent and think that you have it all, you are not going to give it your best. It is when only that fear, desperation, and angst seep into you deeper, that you punch harder, then you go for the jugular. But I have no regrets whatsoever.

You are doing a film after a long time, so did you take time to choose a script?

Yes, this is my first theatrical release and it is close to eight years and it is insane. I did not realise that so much time had gone by. I think I have been busy with my other commitments and to be honest. I love doing stuff on OTT platforms, as it is a different sort of storytelling, it is a much longer format and you get more time to build the graph of the character. I did not realise the time went by. It was not a conscious effort that now I want to do films, of course, I like to be part of feature films, especially big projects like ‘Yodha’. But for me what matters most is story, character and the people that I get an opportunity to work with. It does not matter if it is a big screen or a small screen.

After being part of the many shows on OTT, do you enjoy that medium more?

I cannot pick a favourite between OTT and films for the simple reason that content is king at the end of the day, certain stories just deserve to be seen and experienced on the biggest screen possible. Then there are certain stories which require a longer format, storytelling which is simply not possible in a feature film because the maximum length you have is two or two and a half hours or three hours at best, so it is horses for courses. I can’t say that I prefer one medium over the other. I have preferences in genre, and style of acting that I enjoy watching and performing, but not in the case of a medium.

What are your future projects? Could you give us details?

I have quite an interesting slate coming up. After ‘Yodha’, you will see me hosting for the first time in ‘Splitsvilla’, which is starting on March 30. I have a show with Kay Kay Menon, called ‘Murshid’. It is a father-son story, I play a police inspector and it is a very interesting story. I am very excited about that. I have a film named ‘Johnny Jumper’ with Vijay Raaz, Zakir Hussain, and Zarina Wahab, I play the title role. I am doing a show with Applause, which is untitled, it has Rahul Dev and Mustafa Burmawala in it. There is a cute love story, called ‘Puppy Love’ with Tridha Choudhury, Divya Agarwal, and NikkiTamboli in it. I recently completed a short film with Gajraj Rao, called ‘The Interview’. These are the bunch of things that are coming up. At least these are the ones I can talk about right now.