Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan Are Tanuj Virwani's Inspirations For Revenge Thriller Poison

Over the decades, Amitabh Bachchan has stayed on to be an iconic figure. From Zanjeer to Badla, he has lived his 'angry man' image for over four decades now. As for Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, they have been the favorites amongst at least a couple of generations.

No wonder, majority of actors continue to be influenced and inspired by these bigwigs. Tanuj Virwani is not an exception either as the actor, who has been around for a while now and had made heads turn with his superb act in Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani's The Inside Edge, confesses that he loves the style quotient brought on the big screen by the trio.

"See, we all have grown up watching films of Mr. Bachchan, Salman and Shah Rukh. Even before you look at the storyline, you observe 'ki kya entry hai yaar, mazaa aa gaya’. These are all legendary actors and have been a constant source of inspiration," says Tanuj, who is now being seen in Poison where he shares screen space with Arbaaz Khan and Freddy Daruwala.

Though he played a rather realistic character in his last Hindi film One Night Stand, there is an inherent style quotient that is on display in the part that he is playing in Poison.

Laughs Tanuj, "I will tell you something, when I decided to work as an actor toh ek baat yeh mere mann mein zaroor thi ki kuch bhi karoonga toh style mein karoonga. As actors, we want to do something cool and stylish; I won't deny that. Uske baad baat aa jaati hai subject ki because that should allow you to get into that style zone. If you choose a serious drama then you can't make a 'dhamakedaar' entry as that zone is totally different. That way, it all worked out well in Poison as it allows me to add style and swag to my characterization and personality."

Set in Goa, Poison is a revenge thriller with the backdrop of drug mafia. This is Tanuj's second web series after The Inside Edge that released in 2017 and is still finding steady audience. Out there, Tanuj played the part of a swashbuckling cricket called Vayu Raghavan and the characterization was said to be loosely based on Indian cricket team's captain Virat Kohli.

"When I did The Inside Edge then it was a very unplanned thing for me. At that time the concept of web series had not blown up in such a big way as it is today. Back then, it was one of the earlier shows. However when I started shooting for it, I was enjoying my time in front of the camera. I went with the flow of the narrative and the graph of the character while bringing on the X factor," says Tanuj.

Both the show as well as his act was largely appreciated.

"I reconstructed my inner working as an actor and I guess it worked. People enjoyed my character of Vayu Raghavan a lot and good credit for that must go to the writer. I guess they don't get much credit in the industry, which they must. After all, it is sheer collaboration that brings it all out there. Same is the case with Poison as well. If you like me in the edgy part that I have played for screen then it isn't just due to my efforts but also because the writing was so cool, direction was neat and the technical team further helped me out," details Tanuj.

Well, we would like to check it out for ourselves, now that Poison is already on air.