HT Brunch Cover Story: What makes Rohit Saraf India’s #NationalCrush, and everyone’s “future husband”?

Presenting the 24-year-old actor who has broken the Internet with these effusive terms of endearment

It became real to me that the spell of Rohit Saraf has reached the little mohalla of my hometown when a young girl called me and asked with a voice swaying in nervous anticipation, “Agar vo kabhi Patiala aaye, aap hamein milvaa doge (If he comes to Patiala, would you help me meet him)?”

I’ve lost count of the number of times this request – or some version of it – has landed in my Insta DMs. Not to speak of the infinite Rohit Saraf fan pages and posts with heartfelt open letters (most addressing him as ‘Future Husband’), stunning art dedicated to him, and the unending threads of mushy comments mushrooming across the web in the last three months – most of them carrying that unmistakable whiff of first love.

I guess it’s almost a rite of passage for a teenager to fall head over heels for an on-screen persona. That is how most of us start to discover this dimension of our existence – the sense of feeling attracted, the capacity to fall in love.

My first memory of noticing everyone’s blue-eyed boy is a scene in The Sky Is Pink (2019). His character is at a train station speaking to his little sister on the phone, who is slowly dying. I remember thinking to myself that this actor has a profound ability to express love as well as pain.

With The Sky Is Pink co-star Priyanka Chopra Jonas; ‘Living the dream [with Priyanka Chopra], every second of my life!’ Rohit captions it on his Instagram page

That should explain why I was rather kicked when I got to know that Rohit had been cast as Rishi Singh Shekhawat – one of the protagonists on the Netflix show Mismatched. My co-writers – Aarsh Vora, Sunayana Kumari – and I had visualised Rishi as an 18-year-old hopeless romantic whose favourite pastime is driving his grandma around while listening to old Hindi film songs. He is cheesy and he owns it. He is someone who doesn’t belong in this era. He’s almost an impossibility.

What Rohit did was not only make Rishi believable, but he made cheesy cool. And he did it with an unassuming charm that has cast the aforementioned spell on... well, just about every young girl and several young boys I know.

Being a writer, my mind sometimes wanders into an infinite loop. Is it the character that should get credit for the love an actor gets, or is it the actor who makes that character memorable? In other words, who did the viewer (read ‘I’) fall in love with back in the ’90s – Rahul or Shah Rukh Khan? Some days, I’m certain it was Rahul who made girls believe that ‘Someone somewhere is made for them’. But then, there are times when I wonder if they would’ve believed it had it not been Shah Rukh Khan saying those words. Just like today, would hearts have fluttered had it not been Rohit Saraf saying: “Hello future wife” in his husky yet tender voice?

A post with his Dear Zindagi co-stars and crew Rohit uploaded, captioned, ‘#aboutlastnight at the cast and crew screening of Dear Zindagi. It felt surreal’

The first time I met Rohit was on the sets of our show in Jaipur. What immediately struck me was the joie de vivre about him. Bright, cheerful, exceedingly warm and friendly, here was a guy who had a rapport with everybody in the team. His full-throated laugh had an infectious quality and could shake anyone out of a slumber. He made liking him very easy. You didn’t have any other option.

Then, on one of our last days on shoot, there was a moment that gave me a reason to become even more fond of him. I heard him listening to a song on loop. Vo jo tha khwaab sa – this heartbreakingly beautiful song, which I too often listen to on a loop, and which is coincidentally from a film I’ve co-written (he had no idea) – Irrfan- and Parvathy-starrer Qarib Qarib Singlle (2017), directed by Tanuja Chandra. When Rohit said it was one of his favourite songs, I thought to myself the boy has good taste!

Besides those few days on shoot, I’ve mostly known Rohit through his social media presence. What has often touched me about him is his completely uninhibited articulation of gratitude towards his fans and followers. Not unusual for a star to express that to his admirers, I know, but there’s a kind of wonderment in Rohit’s words when he does that as though he is in awe of them instead of the other way around. You can sense that he is not someone who will take all of this for granted.

A post with his Mismatched co-star, captioned, ‘The only patakha [with Prajakta Koli @MostlySane] I love standing next to. Happy Diwali, y’all’

I think it is these qualities – his guileless humility and warmth – that are among the key reasons why he has been swept in this wave of nationwide infatuation. Of course, it helps that he is easy on the eyes – and you don’t need to read the countless sweet amateur poems written about his eyes and smile to know that – but I believe it is also one’s inner beauty that travels to people in some inexplicable, intangible way, and they can’t help but feel drawn towards it. That, I think, is one of the reasons Rohit was our director Akarsh Khurana’s choice for Mismatched. Rishi, the character, is all heart. And I suspect so is Rohit.

I feel a bittersweet affection for the unknown faces who DM me with the request to connect them to him. There’s an innocence in that hope that’s unique to teenage. This ability to feel in such an uncorrupted and devoted manner for someone is precious, and I hope they protect it with all their hearts because they don’t know it yet, but it’s very easy to lose.

As for Rohit, I must say that I blame this charming boy for the unearned guilt I have to carry for being unable to make his numerous fans’ wishes come true, and I’ll surely have to carry it as long as he keeps being as kind as he is cute as he is talented. So, a long long time, I guess.

Is Rohit Saraf a dog person? This IG post he put up, captioned, ‘Minutes before Bum got comfy and peed all over,’ suggests so

And to every smitten girl and boy, this Valentine’s Day, I wish for you that you find someone who loves you the way you love Rohit Saraf. But even more than that, I wish that you become the person who loves you the way you love Rohit Saraf.

Gazal Dhaliwal is the lead writer of the popular Netflix show Mismatched, is a proud transwoman, who has also written for the films Qarib Qarib Singlle, Lipstick Under My Burkha and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga – the first mainstream Bollywood film about same-sex love

21 flirtatious questions with the #BoyOfTheBall

Rohit’s ideal partner? Someone who is not just respectful, but also brutally honest and driven, he says; Printed over-shirt, white shirt, and trousers, Hermès (Vaishnav Praveen / House of Pixels)

1. Your reaction to being called the national crush?

(Laughs, then shows a nightstand light that reads ‘HBD National Crush’.)It’s funny and very flattering. Who would have thought that in the year of the pandemic, I would be named the National Crush.

2. Has any ex reached out to you after this success?

One of my exes did and someone I used to have a crush on. But what’s gone is gone.

3. Tell us about your first crush…

My pre-school teacher Charu ma’am.

Rohit Saraf with his The Sky is Pink co-stars

4. And, who’s your latest crush?

Latest is Maeve Wiley (played by Emma Mackey in the series Sex Education) is my all-time crush.

5. What’s the craziest thing a fan has done?

Outside a dance class, one of the girls suddenly lifted her top to show a tattoo of my name on her abdomen. I said I needed to leave and left, but I feel bad about it now.

6. The creepiest message from a fan?

An old uncle once DM-ed and asked me if I would like to go out with him and “make some mistakes”. I ignored it, but then he added, “I can pay for the mistakes if you like.”

7. What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for someone you were dating?

I stayed up for two days to sketch a portrait of her.

Guess who made a friend in the hills? Rohit Saraf poses with a pupper during a recent trip to the hills

8. Was it appreciated?

Not as much as I thought. And it wasn’t because it wasn’t good because I wouldn’t have given it then. But it’s okay.

9. The silliest thing you’ve done...?

Drunk dialled someone I shouldn’t. More than that, drunk texting is my thing.

10. Ever slid into someone’s DMs (not for work)?

Yeah... And I am still waiting for a reply. (laughs)

11. The best conversation starter...?

Food. I love it when someone starts a conversation – romantic, platonic, small talk – as long as it’s related to food.

12. Ever dated two people at the same time? If yes, did you ever get caught?

No. Not at all – that’s infidelity!

13. And is it cool to crush on your friend’s girl?

You can’t control that. As long as you don’t do anything about it, it’s cool.

Rohit Saraf confesses that he’s a foodie. “That’s me offering to share my dessert, secretly waiting for you to say no,” he posted on IG

14. What’s the worst pickup line used on you?

“Agar main grahen hoti main aap pe lagg jaati.”

15. A one-liner that’ll work on you?

Quote a Khalid lyric to me. Or any of Lauv’s songs or even any of the songs I have featured in!

16. And a rule you follow on your first date?

Not promise anything I know I can’t fulfil.

17. If a girl burps or farts on a date, you would…

Laugh and make sure she knows I’m laughing with her, not at her.

18. And if Sima aunty would ask you to describe your perfect match, what would you say?

Someone who is respectful to not just herself but everyone around, and is brutally honest and driven.

19. The best way to avoid the ‘shaadi kab hogi’ question?

The only people who can say that is family, and mine know that it’s not a conversation for the next few years.

A sneak peak at Rohit Saraf’s cute, fun and edgy Instagram posts

20. So, how much space is essential in relationships?

First, taking breaks doesn’t work if you are dating someone. I was always someone who didn’t ever think of boundaries when I was in love with someone. But 2020 has taught me that perhaps it’s best to make some and stick to them.

21. Does that mean you’ve been dumped?

I got dumped very recently in 2020. To each their own!

—Karishma Kuenzang

Follow @kkuenzang onn Instagram and Twitter

From HT Brunch, February 7, 2021

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