It all began in 2016. Internet was banned and schools were shut for a long time. Children in the valley were left with no choice to kill their time hence they started taking up outdoor sports. Some of Shah's friends started playing football and that's when he got introduced to the beautiful game. He never looked back after that.
"After practicing football for 2 years, I started watching football videos on YouTube and suddenly I came across video of Trickshots on YouTube. I really got inspired from it," he said.
Recalling a video where he saw a guy kicking footballs into baskets through tyres, Shah got intrigued so much that he also started performing trick shots and posting them on social media.
At an early age of 7, Shah was actually a cricketer. He used to be a good bowler and batter. However, since 2016, the transition from cricket to football took place.
Way back in June 24, 2018 and on the auspicious occasion of Eid, Shah started making trickshots on his phone. With no sim card and no work to do, he started making some videos of juggling on his phone after which he posted them on Instagram." When I saw that people reacted to my videos, it gave me a boost and I continued doing it," he said.
His claim to fame was when he got featured on YouTube page People are awesome. His video garnered around 5 million views. Another feather in his cap was when he got selected for India's Got Talent Season 9.
Football trick shots is not something that one learns overnight. It takes months and months of practice to excel given the complexities of the tricks.
"I used to wake up at 6 AM in the morning and practice football for hours. So now it has been 4 years and today I have good perfection at making tricks. At the beginning, it took a lot of time but after years of practice, I have started doing it with ease."
Shah was always inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo. "I watched his hard work through videos and now he is the world's number one football player. So he inspired me," Shah said.
Hard work always gets noticed and the same happened with Shah. From former India footballing legend Bhaichung Bhutia to Bollywood actor Sunil Shetty, other celebrities also shared Shah's videos on their respective social media accounts.
"It really indicates that I'm doing good work and people are taking their interest in watching my videos and sharing them. And reaching to such heights isn't easy," Shah says with a beaming sense of ease.
Shah is hopeful government might take notice and help him achieve more. "If they provide me facilities, I can reach more heights and can help more people to learn these trickshots," he said.
Shah wants to make the sport popular in India. For this, he will need the support from the people in Kashmir. "I want that my trickshots reach to every individual through social media," he said.