Not a conscious effort to shift from movies to web: Tanuj Virwani

Actor Tanuj Virwani, best known for web series "Inside Edge", says he is happy with the way his career is shaping up.

The actor, son of veteran actor Rati Agnihotri, who made his cinematic debut in 2013's "Love U Soniyo", received recognition as the hot-headed star player Vayu Raghavan in the Amazon Prime Video show.

"It was never a conscious effort to shift from movies to the web. I did three films and none of them worked. Just around that time web was kick starting. My journey coincided with the web booming in a big way.

"'Inside Edge' was Amazon Prime's first original and because of the success of this show, people started taking notice of me. Roles were written keeping me in mind as opposed to me going for auditions. So, that process changed," Tanuj told PTI in an interview.

The 33-year-old actor then went on to feature in ZEE5 web series "Code M" and "Poison".

He also said the makers have shot for season three of "Inside Edge", which is slated to be released later this year.

"When 'Inside Edge' was shot, no one thought it will blow up. It was the first big original series to have come out in 2017 when this format itself was very new here," he added.

Tanuj has an interesting slate of projects, including a show with Meera Chopra and Kulbhushan Kharbanda for Amazon Prime Video titled "Kamathipura", "Masaba Masaba" for Netflix, and a show with ALTBalaji.

"The Amazon show should come out soon. I am playing a negative role in it for the first time in my career. I am quite kicked up about that, it is dark and different. I have a cameo in 'Masaba Masaba' with Neena Gupta and her daughter Masaba. Also, shoot for season two of 'Code M' should begin depending on the lockdown."
"I found the whole experience of making the short film self-therapeutic because what it talks about the mental impact of a lockdown on people. At times, I feel, the paranoia will affect us more than the virus."