In what is a first for Indian cinema, on Tuesday Shahid Kapoor flew a Tornado battle aircraft at the Royal Airforce airbase in Leuchars near Edinburgh as part of the shooting for his father’s Mausam.

In the film Shahid plays an airforce officer. It was felt by his father, the director, Pankaj Kapoor that shooting at the restricted airbase area on a real Tornado plane would considerably enhance the authenticity of the aerial shots showing the hero flying as an airforce officer.

According to a source, Shahid had been training to fly a plane secretly in India. Apparently Shahid actually flew the Tornado in Edinburgh, though no one is talking about it on record.

The whole stint was done within the period of a half a day on Tuesday. It was handled with utmost caution and discretion. Permission to shoot at the strictly-prohibited airbase was obtained after much persuasion and pulling of strings.

Says a source from the unit, “At first, we somehow managed permission to shoot in the airbase. Then we became ambitious and wanted Shahid to actually fly the Tornado a bit. That was tougher than we thought”.

The day-long shoot at the Edinburgh airbase will now be incorporated into the sequences that would be shot later in August at an airforce base near Hyderabad.

That won’t be the only bit of cinematic license indulged by Mausam. Sonam Kapoor, who plays a Kashmiri girl, will shoot all her sequences in Jammu instead of Kashmir.

Says a source from the unit, “Shahid’s Jab We Met was a Bharat Darshan. Imtiaz Ali shot all over India from Chandigarh to Ladakh. Mausam is a Duniya Darshan. Apart from Scotland the film will be shot in Punjab, Jammu, and Madhya Pradesh”.

--Subhash K. Jha/ Sampurn Wire