Aashiqui 2 was the blockbuster romantic musical movie which gave recognition to both the actors, Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur. But no one knows about the story writer, cause they can’t be seen on screen. Shagufta Rafiq is the writer of the movie, who worked tirelessly behind the curtains. Her journey into the Bollywood industry wasn’t a cakewalk and her story is really heart-wrenching.
Shagufta never had an opportunity to meet her biological mother. She was adopted by Anwari Begum(Yesteryear actress) who gave her the love of a mother. Seeing her mother in financial troubles, the writer decided to become a prostitute to support her family financially at the age of 17.
She revealed in an interview that,
“At 17 and a half I turned to prostitution. To lose your virginity to a stranger is traumatic. And it went on from one man to another to another… right till the age of 27. My mother knew I’d taken to prostitution. I’d become the man of the house. But it gave me happiness that I helped my mother get off the bus and travel in a taxi. We could afford chicken curry, prawns… from just haddi ka salan (gravy cooked with bones). I bought her gold bangles. For years I had seen her wearing glass ones. Being troubled about the life I was leading, I took to namaz to hold myself. It helped me through the dark times.”
Talking about her career in Bollywood industry she said,
“I had gathered a lot of data about life and relationships after having met many girls from Philippines and Russia. I had slept in chawls, on dirty pillows; on dirty mattresses, where several girls had slept before and entertained multi millionaires… I wanted to write it all down. I believed I had a career in Bollywood. At the age of 36, around 2002, I told Mahesh Bhatt saab I wanted to write. I didn’t get a chance to write till 2006. After writing two scenes for Mohit Suri’s Kalyug I got to write Woh Lamhe and then Aawarapan, Raaz 2, Jism 2, Murder 2, Raaz 3 and now Aashiqui 2.”
Shagufta wrote 11 films under Mahesh Bhatt’s production company, Vishesh Films and gained success and is currently working on her directorial debut. Well, let’s us wish Shagufta a successful career as a director too, after writing some good films like Aashiqui 2.