Srinagar: Just recall who was playing Dr Roshan in one of the most watched soap operas on television, ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay 2’. It was Ummer Khan, a Kashmiri rural boy, who quit an engineering career to pursue his passion of acting.
In just a span of four years, since he finished his engineering course, he has played a character in a Tamil film, featured in Crime Patrol show, and now is shooting for a web series that Salman Khan is producing.
“I have an instinct for acting, so I became an actor,” Khan said while speaking to Kashmir Reader.
Born in Khawaja Bagh area of Baramulla to parents who are both teachers, Ummer decided to take up acting as a career when he was chosen as Mr Personality at the freshers’ party of his college.
He received an offer to feature in Punjabi albums, which he did by the time he was done with studies. He moved to Delhi to pursue an acting course, and then landed in Mumbai.
His father, a lecturer at a government-run college, and mother, a teacher at a government-run school, both wanted him to do something else, perhaps a government job. There is a long list of Kashmiri actors who have failed to make an entry into Bollywood. Taking up acting was a high-risk proposition.
“It is just a beginning, a lot has to be done. My engineering at GGS College, Chandigarh, was just a part of my life, not its passion. Though my parents did not wish to see me as an actor, but now they are happy, after having seen on TV and now with a web series coming up,” he said.
Khan these days is prepping for the release of his debut film and web series titled ‘SOT’ under the Salman Khan production, SKTV. Its promo is already on air. Khan said he worked day and night for the series.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz