Tanuj Virwani: Digital space changed my life as an actor

Mumbai: Despite being the son of veteran actress Rati Agnihotri, Tanuj Virwani has gone through initial struggle as an actor in Bollywood, until the web series "Inside Edge" made him a somewhat familiar face. Tanuj is gearing up for the release of season two of the show and, with more digital shows in the pipeline, Tanuj says that the new-age entertainment platform has given him a chance to prove his skill as an actor.

In "Inside Edge", he essays a highly successful cricketer named Vayu Raghavan, a character that garnered lots of attention in the first season of the show.

Talking about how the show has taken his career to a different dimension, Tanuj told IANS: "I did not get the best of starts. In the beginning of my career, as well as in between, I was struggling to prove my talent. I am not complaining because there is a good time and a bad one, but this show and the character of Vayu changed the performer in me, and it changed my life as an actor."

Starting his career in 2013 with the film "Luv U Soniyo", he has appeared in films like "Purani Jeans" and "One Night Stand" before the first season of the Amazon Prime original show released in 2017.

In the show he shared screen space with actors like Vivek Oberoi, Amir Bashir, Sapna Pabbi and Makrand Deshpande, Flora Saini, Luke Kenny, Elli AvrRam among others.

"The show has really given me the opportunity to work with some wonderful people, which helped to improve my craft. I strongly believe that our growth always depends on the kid of people we are surrounded with. This project has changed my life in many ways," said the actor, who also appeared in web series like "Poison" and "Fuh Se Fantasy", and is soon to be seen in shows like "Code M" and "Cartel".

Created by Karan Anshuman, "Inside Edge" received positive response overall, and according to the actor, such feedback has given the writers the guts to push the envelope in season two.

"The first season gave us the validation that we have done a great job as -- show makers, writers, actors, producers and everyone else involved. We could have become complacent and delivered a continuation of the same story. But our writers were really experimental enough to push the boundary and show an interesting side of the story," he said, adding: "We have a new season that will take our audience in surprise," he added.

"Inside Edge 2" starts streaming on December 6 on Amazon Prime Video.