Nitesh Tiwari takes Tahir Raj Basin to his engineering college

Tahir Raj Basin’s character Derek in Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore is inspired by the latter’s senior in college when he was studying in IIT Mumbai. Nitesh wanted to have this character in the film because they shared a great camaraderie and the sports champion had a big impact on him.

Says Tahir, “The original Derek was a rebel who oozed charisma. To inspire me for the part, Nitesh sir took me for a walk around his old campus. The champion’s name is on the sports achievers boards in all the cafeterias and corridors. All the details he told me about his personality, popularity and swag were my ammunition to prep for this role. Hopefully, the original Derek and batchmates from his era will be proud of how I have portrayed him on screen.”