Avinash Tiwary and Karan Johar (Source: Instagram | @avinashtiwary13, @karanjohar)
Avinash Tiwary and Karan Johar (Source: Instagram | @avinashtiwary13, @karanjohar)

There are many actors who manage to cast their spell on you in their first film, and Avinash Tiwary is one of those for me. I was impressed by his performance in Tu Hai Mera Sunday and I was looking forward to his next film. This happened in 2017. Next year, he blew my mind when he starred in Laila Majnu. While the film didn’t do well at the ticket windows, it still remains to be favourite of all those who have seen it on the OTT platform. But the film’s debacle didn’t stop Avinash’s fan following. While he still thinks that he is a nobody (which is a characteristic of a great actor), the industry doesn’t feel the same. If it wasn’t for his perseverance, he wouldn’t have landed a Karan  Johar film. Even though it was a short story on Netflix’s Ghost Stories, Avinash yet again shinned bright.

Maybe that’s the reason why he calls Karan a johari and says that the filmmaker had told him to go and celebrate.

The light that you are talking about is in a room, and that spotlight falls on one today and falls on the other tomorrow, and that’s the part of the business that should not bother you. But what you need to acknowledge is the fact that you have finally entered the room where the spotlight is so the light might fall on you today might not fall on you tomorrow. But you still have the possibility of the light falling on you later, because you have entered the room. So go and celebrate it, that’s given me a lot of confidence.While many projects are up to his alley which Tiwary manages to remain quite tight-lipped about, I am more interested in his project with Amazon Prime. Reports are making rounds that Avinash will be essaying the role of Dawood Ibrahim in the series Dongri To Dubai penned by Hussain Zaidi.

While he still remains zipped about the project, he says that he is excited to essay “the character”.

We begin shooting for it from the 10th of Feb. Some parts of the series will be shot in Bombay. Prepping for the character has been quite exciting. I am losing track of time, I am planning to shift to Dongri for a bit, also because I realized, I need to put myself in that space for a bit. And especially for parts like this, because it’s out of your realm of experience and you have to do that extra prep work.

Ask him if he has done a lot of reading about this “character” and he immediately says,

There is a lot of reading that has happened and there is a lot of things you have not experienced that you are willing to and putting yourself through which is scary also because once I come back home, and see my mom, you know I can’t come in like this. It’s taking a toll on me right now, but I am sure it will be worth it.I am sure that this talent house is going to win my heart yet again and I cannot wait for his projects to release this year.