Who doesn’t remember the handsome model from the funny ‘silly village girl’ ad for Hero Pleasure scooty with Priyanka Chopra, the Santro commercial with Shah Rukh Khan and the Pepsi advertisement with Kareena Kapoor? Despite looming presence of superstars, Rufy Khan made his presence felt with an attractive face cut and the perfect body.
His hard-hitting short film Who Dies was screened at the Al Nahj Film Festival in Iraq in April. The movie that has been doing rounds of several film fests lately also won the best film award in the Kala Ghoda Film Festival in 2017. Born in Srinagar, Rufy was in his last year of civil engineering when the glamour world caught his fancy. “During a college tour to Mumbai, we visited some film sets and I was offered roles by some directors. I don’t know how genuine they were but they steered my thinking towards acting. So, after I finished engineering, I lied to my dad about getting a job in Mumbai and landed here.”
Rufy’s good looks made it easy for him to get modelling offers. But as an actor, Rufy got his big break when Subhash Ghai cast him for a supporting role in drama film Yuvvraaj and comedy movie Nautanki Saala. His work was appreciated and he landed with lead roles in films such as Kala Sach-The black Truth and Dhara 302.
“Both the films were good learning experience. Rohan Sippy, who directed Nautanki Salaa, insisted on a 15-day workshop for everybody involved in the film and that was a turning point for my career. I learned all the aspects of film-making, including direction.”But Rufy does not believe in basking in past glory or coming across as just an actor with rippling muscles and good Kashmiri face. This artist prefers to widen his canvas to play on.
So, he wrote, produced and directed Who Dies. “It took me two years to make this 10-minute film. It revolves around two characters—a militant and an army man—who meet in a Kashmiri house. Both are injured. The story is all about how they deal with a situation, and send across a message of peace,” says the director, who has played the role of army man in the film.
The proudest moment for Rufy was when his film was screened at the New York Peace Film Festival (NYPFF) last year. “Having my work screened at an international platform is a big honour.”About his future plans, Rufy says, “My next film will be based on a shepherd's life in Kashmir. I will direct and perhaps act in it too.”