Inside Edge 3, released on Amazon Prime Video, has been one of the most sought-after shows on OTT. Besides being an International Emmy-nominated show, it has continued to excite the audience with new plotlines, characters and intriguing tales. Tanuj Virwani, who plays the role of  Vayu Raghavan, the star player and captain of the Mumbai Mavericks, shared his journey from when the show started, the most challenging part of shooting for season 3 and how fortunate he felt when he received such an overwhelming response. 

In an exclusive chat with Times Now Digital, Tanuj reminisced starting from ground level for the show and working hard to shape the character of Vayu into his own. Joking about how he would tell his friends that Vayu is the best imaginary friend, Tanuj said, “With each progressive season I’ve realised that it’s akin to doing theatre. Every time we do a stage performance you have your own different nuance, your different take on the material. It was never going to be identical, and similarly, the way I’ve approached the character, of course, the behavioural patterns will be the same, but there’s so much that’s given me the opportunity to really dig deep. I joke with my friends and tell them that Vayu is like the best imaginary friend I’ve had.”

The challenges that Tanuj faced in season 3 were surely new and invigorating. Talking about the most challenging scene he had to shoot, he said, “For me, wearing an adult diaper for an entire day for a 12-hour shift in the sun and playing cricket with it was extremely invasive and it felt really weird. There’s an episode where Vayu is required to do that and we wanted to keep it as authentic as possible.”

Adding that it was physically uncomfortable, he said that he had to try and focus on the character. However, he shared that Akshay Oberoi, who entered season 3 as Rohit Shanbagh, was laughing at him. “Akshay was there having a good time, laughing at me both on as well as off the camera.”

Further talking about his character Vayu being real and authentic on the show, Tanuj said, “You want to keep things as organic as they possibly can be, because of my equation with Mantra, Rohini, Devender.” He added that shooting with Amit Sial, who plays Devender, there was less information to work on which made shooting challenging with him.

“So much has happened and not much screen time has been given in the previous seasons to Devender and Vayu’s equation but it is an equation that has had its share of ups and downs. So whenever there was a time to crack a bit of a scene it was a challenge because we had less to chew off and yet we wanted to keep it as real as maybe real-life characters and maybe this is how they wanted with everything that went on in these past few seasons,” Tanuj shared. 

Tanuj took us down memory lane when Inside Edge was nominated for an International Emmy. The 35-year-old said that the team was in Georgia when someone shared the news on their Whatsapp group only leaving him in disbelief. 

“I was like, ‘This is a joke come on seriously.’ Then messages started pouring in and calls started coming in. I was like, ‘This is actually happening, this is real.’ We had just started our outdoor schedule for the second season and it was such a boost for everybody. To be the first at something is great and It’s been a truly special journey. It’s had such a big impact. to me personally both in professional life and in my career. So I’m just stoked about this show. I love it,” he said.

Talking about his journey till season 3, Tanuj shared how he never thought the show would become a much-loved series by the audience. [Vayu] and he’s in different situations and also with the kind of love coming in from the audiences, it’s been overwhelming. The fact that we’re sitting here after three seasons I’d be like, ‘Get out of here, I don’t think that’s going to happen at all.'”