Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin, who recently wrapped up the shooting of his next ‘Looop Lapeta’, is elated that his film, ‘Chhichhore’ bagged the National Film Award in the Best Film category on Monday evening. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the film also starred Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Prateik Babbar and others.

ETimes got in touch with Tahir, who essayed the role of Derek in the film, to get his response on the big win. Reacting to the good news, the actor said, “Very few films give you the satisfaction of a blockbuster success and critical acclaim. The National Award is the cherry on the cake and it feels out of this world for ‘Chhichhore’ to have got this coveted recognition. The film was about breaking the notions of what being a winner and loser is in your own mind and about finding your own definition of joy and success. I think back today to the epic experience of shooting ‘Chhichhore’. We shot at the IIT Bombay campus and by the end of it all of us felt like we had relived our college life with Nitesh Tiwari playing our de facto gang leader.“

Tahir also remembered Sushant and said that the story would have been incomplete without him. “The victory was a day of celebration and a day of remembrance for Sushant. The story could not have been told without him,” he said.

He also took a walk down the memory lane and spilled the beans on signing the film in the first go itself. He said that he knew that it would be a special story after reading the script. Speaking about it, Tahir added, “When I read the script, I had no doubt it would be a special story. Derek was the leader of the Hostel 4 boys and what attracted me to the part was the fact that there was a soft vulnerable side to him and how emotional he was for his hostel yet he had to keep up this veneer of a hard exterior. It was finding the balance between both those acts that made the part challenging to do.”