The actor, an adventure junkie who started flying seven years ago, also enjoys car-racing and surfing
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 19, 2018)

Taking his love for adventure a notch higher, Kunal Kapoor took off to Abu Dhabi in September to enjoy the joys of car-racing, and to Bhopal towards the end of October for some flying sessions and then it was Sri Lanka and surfing during Diwali. “Life is short and unpredictable so one should try and experience everything that fascinates you. I started flying and racing long ago, surfing though is a new addition when I was in Sri Lanka earlier this year and went back recently for a few more training lessons. It’s exhausting but I’m finally getting the hang of it and spending more time on the board than of it,” laughs the actor.

Kunal started flying around seven years ago at the Chimes Aviation Academy in Sagar. Since then, he has kept going back there whenever he got the chance. “My first flying instructor used to refer to himself as a part of a suicide prevention squad. He would say when students start flying, it’s like they are in a hurry to crash the plane and his job is to prevent that from happening,” he reminisces.

Cars and racing are two of his lifelong passions and admits he learnt how to drive way before he was of age. In 2010, Kunal started training at a rally school on the outskirts of Mumbai and then in Manali. More recently, he drove Formula 3 racing cars in Abu Dhabi and even managed a couple of sessions with a trainer who used to be a part of Michael Schumacher’s team. “All these require a lot of concentration and complete immersion as it’s just you and the machine. I find that level of focus and involvement meditative,” Kunal muses, stating matter-of-factly that it’s a little late for him to take up any of these professionally, but given a chance, he would have loved to be a race car driver. “Even to incorporate some of these skills while working on a film would be a dream come true. I was offered a script which had a lot of car racing years ago but unfortunately things didn’t fall into place,” he sighs.

He flashbacks to 1986 when the American action-drama Top Gun had released. “Every boy wanted to be an Air Force pilot and get a crew cut like Tom Cruise. A line from the film, ‘I feel the need… need for speed’ had become my takiya qalam. I have forgotten the number of times I have watched Days of Thunder and Rush. Point Break, which is about surfing, is my another favourite, the ultimate edge-of-the-seat, testosterone-infused bromance with some great action sequences. I can’t wait to do a film like that,” Kunal signs off. 

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 16, 2016)


Gul Panag who had been taking flying lessons since some time is now a licensed pilot after she cleared her final test on Monday — a ‘day check ride’ in the presence of instructor Captain Shakti Singh at the Chimes Aviation Academy in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh. The licence will be issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in a few weeks.

“I used to pass the flying academy in Patiala every day on my way to college. I wanted to be a part of it as a hobby but the course was expensive and I didn’t want to burden my parents. When I shared the idea with my husband, Rishi Attari, who is a commercial pilot he encouraged me to fulfil my dream,” says the actress who enrolled in a Patiala flying academy two years ago but her classes were interrupted as she got busy with Mandeep Kumar’s Punjabi comedy-thriller Ambarsariya.

She was planning to fly to the US to complete the mandatory hours of lessons when she found out about the Chimes Academy in Madhya Pradesh and enrolled there instead in October last year.

She went on to clear the three written tests, two in April and one in July this year, with flying colours. “The tests were difficult but I had worked really hard. Rishi was very supportive and helped me with the exams and so did the ground instructor at the academy,” Gul says, recalling how nervous she was when asked to fly her Cessna 172 solo late last year. “I didn’t think I was ready then but my instructor showed faith in me which gave me a lot of confidence. I had a blast doing it and consider it one of the best moments of my life,” she beams.

Next up on her agenda is taking her husband for a ride once she’s got the licence. “We would fly to Khajuraho or Jabalpur sometime next year. I am very excited,” Gul exults, admitting that Tom Cruise-starrer Top Gun is her favourite film but not because of it’s premise but because she find the actor “hot”. And would she want to work in a Hindi remake if there ever was one? “As a producer I would want it to be commercially viable and would prefer casting Deepika Padukone or Katrina Kaif over me,” the dimpled beauty signs off with a laugh.