Tanuj Virwani on nepotism: There have been several high profile star kids who have not been able to do well

Tanuj Virwani made his Bollywood debut with the film Luv U Soniyo in the year 2013 and he later starred in movies like Purani Jeans and One Night Stand. The actor turned his ways towards OTT platforms and has been a part of successful web series like Inside Edge and Code M.

We recently interacted with Tanuj and asked him about his view on the nepotism debate. To which the actor said, “Nepotism definitely exists, but tell me which line of work it does not exist. If you are a lawyer’s son nepotism will exist there because your father will know the best way to get you into that field, if you are a doctor’s son or an investment banker’s son and whatever else, but it exists. And similarly, it exists in our industry as well. But at the end of the day, it is not one person or the production house or a godfather in the industry that can make you or break you, it is the audience. There have been several high profile star kids who have not been able to do well, and then people who have termed as ‘outsiders’ have come in the industry and done well.”

“In my case also, initially there was a curiosity because mom (Rati Agnihotri) has been in a part of the industry for so many years. But, she never went out of her way to lobby and to get me work which is why my first couple of films weren’t big films. I didn’t get a big launch. And I am actually very thankful to my mother for that because it makes me respect and value the accolades and success I am getting in the last couple of years,” he added.

Further talking about the whole Sushant Singh Rajput’s case, Tanuj said, “What’s happening in the last 45 days, goes far deeper and far beyond nepotism. This is a clear case of there being camps; it’s a clear case of there being certain lobbies in the industry. But, I don’t want to go and speculate because I don’t know enough about the matter.  For example, in this case, Sushant was made to feel isolated or something like that, but the truth will prevail eventually. But I also feel it’s extremely prudent and extremely wrong on people’s part to go around pointing fingers at people from the fraternity and calling them murderers and all sorts of things, attacking them and their loved ones.”