Titas Chowdhury (HINDUSTAN TIMES; February 11, 2020)

Avinash Tiwary, who earned rave reviews for his performance in Laila Majnu (2018), believes that filmmakers now, have a certain faith in him and the fraternity’s attitude towards him has changed. “Earlier, people would want to work with me but they didn’t have the faith. But now, people are thinking that maybe, times have changed. I hear these things but I don’t understand them. I’m the same actor with the same talent, but now they look at me differently,” he says.

However, Avinash is practical and feels that the film industry changes every few years with the influx of new talent. He explains, “Five years down the line, their perception about me will change again. It’s about how relevant I can stay and how they will look at me. I’m in an unknown territory. I don’t know how the industry functions.”

The actor, who was last seen in the digital anthology film, Ghost Stories, says that he wants to reach a place where his name is enough to pull the audience to the theatre. “People were excited for Ghost Stories because there’s a Karan Johar in it. They are excited for The Girl On The Train because of Parineeti Chopra and Aditi Rao Hydari. The same thing had happened with Yudh. Everyone thought that I was talented because I was standing next to Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan. But from here on, I want to get into a space where I can get the audience to come and watch me. That’s something that I’m striving for,” he elaborates.

Avinash shares that he’s still getting used to the ways of showbiz and often finds himself questioning his next step. “When you don’t have a film, you can urge them to give you one opportunity. Now that I have done a couple of films, I don’t know what to do next. I used to keep wondering if I’ll ever get a film. Imtiaz (Ali; filmmaker) sir had once said to me, ‘I can only do the films that I’m allowed to and you can only do the films that come to you’. And that’s the biggest truth,” he signs off.