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The 2013 smash hit Aashiqui 2 turned Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor into household names overnight. Made for just ₹15 crore, the movie went on to earn ₹109 crore worldwide. Mohit Suri, who later wowed audiences with songs in Saiyaara, directed this romantic drama. Produced by Mukesh Bhatt, Bhushan Kumar, and Krishan Kumar, the movie had more than just noted backers. The real heartbeat of the film comes from the screenplay. That lifeblood was written by Shagufta Rafiq, an artist whose deep understanding of life lends each frame of the film a haunting mix of love, sorrow, and the unyielding urge to keep going.

Shagufta stepped into the adult world before most girls even hit their teens.

She came into life in a hush of unanswered questions. No one knew for sure who had given her the first breath; Anwari Begum, a faded superstar of the screen, held her only as a single parent. Gossip circles swirled—some believed Shagufta was Anwari’s blood grandchild, others swore Anwari had simply rescued a child no one wanted and made her into a daughter. Maybe the answer faded even before Shagufta could ask. Mountains of unpaid bills and empty stomachs followed her earliest steps. By the time another season passed twelve blossoms, when the dust and chalk of a classroom should frame a girl’s day, Shagufta already twirled in dim-lit halls, charming strangers for a few crumpled banknotes, all the while guarding the frail dignity of a hungry mother. The men who watched came from the city’s best hotels, clutching wine glasses and wives nearly passed out drunk. At seventeen, tired for a girl’s heart to burst into another bright set, her body turned the final corner; she stepped from a scratched dance floor into the more biting, hotter world of sex work.

Shagufta was pushed onto the stage by the pressure of debt

She told the story to Geo TV, saying she made around Rs 3,000 every night. It was enough to buy fresh prawns, chicken, and a gold bangle for her mother. Yet, every night she felt a piece of herself leave on the dimly lit floor. Her mother watched her for years, knowing the secret, but the pain of hospital bills and empty stomachs won over silence. For a decade, Shagufta lived this way. Then, a friend suggested she fly to Dubai to dance in a night club. There the ceiling lights flickered above her like stars, and she sang and spun for whoever would pay. At first her heart raced with fear, but a chance meeting changed everything. A wealthy man in a crisp shirt lavished notes in her purse, offered sweet promises, and she felt the first real love in a long time. A ring and a new life seemed near, but fortune wrote a different ending.

Mahesh Bhatt Opened the Door

In 1999, Shagufta’s world was shaken when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. After that, she returned to India, needing to heal. The real twist came in 2002 when she met filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. Looking him in the eye, she declared, “I need to write, because the truths that touch me are the truths of so many others.” That meeting was her first spark.

Four years later, in 2006, she walked onto her first set. Shagufta penned several scenes for Mohit Suri’s crime drama, Kalyug. The pages she handed in soon turned to lights and cameras. Afterward, her words kept scoring hits: *Woh Lamhe, Raaz 2, Murder 2,* and the sweeping romance of *Aashiqui 2.* Each script bled her pain onto the page. She showed the world that when hurt is turned into story, it no longer stings; it becomes a piece of shared, healing history.

Read More: First showed love to the orphan, then pushed her into the flesh trade, years later Mahesh Bhatt’s eyes fell on her and the life of the bar dancer brightened