Safwan alias Saaf Boi is a household name among Malayalis. He is popular through Instagram reels and youtube videos. He posts comedy reels. His appearance as a Muslim woman, Sainaatha with Malappuram accent in comedy reels is immensely popular. He has done a few works in Mollywood, in the recent times. He made brief appearances in Journey of Love 18+ (2023), Guruvayur Ambalanadayil (2024), Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys (2024) and Padakkalam (2025).
A boy from Malappuram who dreamt to become a cricketer
Safwan was born in Malappuram, a region best known for its craziness for football. He belongs to the hub of Perunthalmanna, where a small group are cricket fans. People close to cricketer Ravindra Jadeja calls him Jaddu Boy. Taking that inspiration, he took the handle name, Saaf Boi/ Saafboi. He is better known to Malayalis as Saaf Boi, his Instagram handle and Youtube channel name.
Safwan joined Cricket academy of Thiruvananthapuram at the age of 11. He has been a successful cricketer, who played for Kerala several times. He has been a part of U-14. U-16, U-19 and U-23 teams. Indian He was playing Under-23 when his cricketing career came to a halt. During the COVID-19 lockdown, with a lot of free time available, he started making comedy reels. His brother encouraged him to post it in social media, and some of his reels went viral. Thus, within a short time, Saaf Boi got more than a million subscribers in Youtube. He has half a million followers in Instagram too.
He started YouTube channel “Saafboi” on 26th October 2013
His channel features comedy, character-based skits through which he introduced interesting characters like “Sainaatha”, “Abookka”, “Kamaru” and others. He mixes humour, societal observations and regional flavours and dialect in his reels, which are mostly satire and funny in nature. Because of his immense popularity and a-million subscribers, he’s now recognized as one of the well-known digital creators from Kerala.
His brother, who initially encouraged Safwan to post reels, also appears in his reels. His parents – Aslam and Rejina also fully support him in his new journey, though they not openly show it.
Content creation was not his original plan
Content creation was not even in his thoughts. He dreamt to become a cricketer. Only because of lockdown in 2020, he started rethinking his plan. “If you think it’s good, just post it” – Saaf Boi’s words. After his youtube channel became instant hit, he expanded beyond YouTube and started Instagram with the same handle name. Now he generates income from both these sources.
Journey of Love 18+ – His debut film
His reels-journey helped him to get his first Malayalam film, Journey of Love 18+ in 2023. He played the supporting role of Renju, Akhil’s (played by Naslen) friend in the film. He also did noted performances in Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys (2024) and Padakkalam (2025).
His character runs in a different track from ‘Vaazha’ boys in Vaazha – Biopic of a Billion Boys. He was also a little desperate. But after the success of the film, only when audience, especially parents came and appreciated him, he realized the depth of the character given by Vipin. Pharma aside Nivin Pauly and Hemant Ramesh’s directorial venture, Startup Katha are other films.
Saaf Boi – Some interesting and less-known facts
Safwaan as Sainaatha in reels
1. When he was at cricket academy, Thiruvananthapuram, Indian cricketer Sanju Sampson was also there. Through him, he became a part of PR team of Rajasthan Royals from Kerala.
2. ‘Thantha Vibe’ is a term prominent in Kerala in the recent times, especially to mock older generations. A few youngsters (his cousins) from his ancestral family of Puthiyangadi are behind this viral term. They had a common dialogue in the group to chill the mood – “Ingalu Thantha Vibe Irakkalle”. Saaf Boi used this term in one of his reels, and it clicked.
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