A Poet's rendition

Chintan Rachchh of Class opens up to Sakshi Rawte about thriving in chaos and his love for poetry

- Sakshi Rawte

Most of us know him by his introverted yet defiant character, Faruq Manzoor, in Netflix’s popular teen-drama Class. Off-camera, though, Chintan Rachchh is a charming, curly-haired poet whose words will make you swoon. Faruq and Rachchh are far from similar, but their paths intertwine when it comes to whispering dissents. Even though Faruq was based on Omar (from Elite), Chintan brought a bit of himself to his character, which resonated with the audience.

ELLE: Faruq Manzoor is multi-faceted. What was your first impression of the character?

Chintan Rachchh (CR): I still remember being extremely excited when I first read about Faruq. It intrigued me, and I couldn’t recall anything similar that had been done before. If I’m allowed to be candid, taking on a role as complex as Faruq’s was quite challenging. He is a Kashmiri Muslim who moves to Delhi whilst grappling with the reality of his sexuality. Now, our traits never crossed paths at all. So I had to work on all aspects—the verbal cues and body language, right from the start.