Exclusive! Tanaav actor Manav Vij: Seeing myself on the poster of a show feels surreal

Manav Vij started his career as an actor in 2002, and received a lot of love from the audience for his acting skills in every project that he has appeared in, be it Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Punjab 1984, Udta Punjab, Phillauri, Naam Shabana to latest Laal Singh Chaddha. But despite this, it took almost 20 years for Manav Vij to see himself on the poster of a project and become the face of a show, after he landed the lead role in the web series Tanaav.

While the actor felt emotional about that one moment, in conversation with OTTplay, he opened up on why he never had any grudges related to the struggles that he went through.

Manav told OTTplay, " Honestly speaking, I never ever had any complaint about my journey or even struggle. I was very focused from the beginning that whatever part I will get a chance to play, be it small or big, I will give my best as an actor. Of course, I feel good when people appreciate my work in every film that I did but I think all the compliments are the blessing of the almighty. But yes, this is the first time ever in my career after all these years, that I got a lead part to play and I saw my face on a poster. That was a surreal feeling, a little overwhelming too."

He then continued, "People recognised my work from my few last releases and I also played important parts in them but in none of them I was in the poster of a film. I thought I will see myself in the poster of Laal Kaptaan or Samrat Prithviraj. But it is ok, Tanaav is a big show and I got a lead to play. I am happy and also thankful to Sudhir sir and Sameer sir who thought of casting me in the series."

Tanaav is the Indian adaptation of an Israeli show titled Fauda. Manav is playing the character of Kabir Farooqi, who is on a mission to track down and kill the terrorist Umar Riyaz. Manav's character is based on the character of Doron Kavillio, who was played by the Israeli actor Lior Raz in the original show.

Written by Ishan Trivedi and Sudhir Mishra, and produced by Sameer Nair under the banner Applause Entertainment, Tanaav also features Sumit Kaul, Shashank Arora, Danish Husain, Rajat Kapoor, Ekta Kaul, Sukhmani Sadana, Waluscha De Sousa and Zarina Wahab. The series will be released on November 11 on SonyLIV.