Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; January 26, 2020)

“The one thing that I always wanted to do and I hope, am able to do by the next year, is to attend the Republic Day parade in Delhi. It is on my bucket list,” says Kirti Kulhari. She is extremely proud of her father, who was in the navy and her sister, who is in the army. “Another proud moment was last year, when my sister got a chance to help the Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoist the flag. It was a pretty cool moment for all of us in the family,” reveals the Bard of Blood actor.

Kirti admits that she loved her life as a defence kid, including the transfers. “I get bored with the same place but as my dad was in the navy, we didn’t get too many transfers. We lived in Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, for six years and I studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya. I cherish having grown up in the defence environment. The kind of resources and opportunities we get are immense and we don’t value enough. You grow up with people from different religions, communities and castes and it is normal for you to celebrate festivals and accept each other. We were all like a community and were there for each other, no matter who you are or where you come from,” she says.

She reveals that she wanted to join the navy but she didn’t know how serious she was about it back then. Soon, she realised that it was not easy getting into the navy or any of the armed forces. “It was a no-brainer to give it a shot but it didn’t work out. I would have loved to be a part of the armed forces but life had different plans for me,” she says.

Kirti was glad to get the opportunity to play an Indian Air Force pilot in her film, Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019). “This role was and will always be special as I got the chance to be in a uniform. I love pilots and being able to don the uniform of a pilot was a high. I don’t regret not being able to be a part of the armed forces anymore,” she signs off.