Up in the Air

While Shahid wants to be back in the air,his Mausam co-star Sonam Kapoor says she’s happier being the passenger. “I have really bad eye-sight,I can’t even see you,” says the actress,referring to the back row at the press conference organised at a location that is a vital part of the film,the Chandigarh Air Force Station.

Surprisingly,it was Shahid,not Sonam,who proved to be a hit among the officers. As the men in uniform directed their questions at him and Shahid answered with wit,Sonam sat in quiet contemplation. “I always wanted to act in my father,Pankaj Kapur’s debut film,and it took me two years to convince him to make one,and another year for him to write it,” says Shahid.

Mausam celebrates the season of love,but one that spans over 10 years and through times of war and upheaval. It’s also a story that has traces of Pankaj Kapur’s hometown,Ludhiana in Punjab. “Although I have never asked,I feel that there was a girl in Ludhiana who he had loved,for there are a lot of reflections from the past woven into the script,” says Shahid,adding that working on this film was like going to a film school and being taught by the finest. The plot of Mausam,he adds,is set against some very important world events that took place in the Nineties. And no,he is no Tom Cruise of Top Gun here. “I play a Punjabi boy in love with a Kashmiri girl,” adds Shahid.

After being in awe of her father Anil Kapoor’s fauji look in Pukar,Sonam says Shahid’s done justice to the uniform. “In times of terror,unrest and corruption,there is a need for a romantic dream,for love,and Mausam is exactly that,” says the girl. She reveals that,when not working,she loves to eat,read and collect anything that’s vintage. “Sell her junk in the name of vintage and she’ll buy it,” teases Shahid.

Post Mausam,the two Kapoors have their dates blocked. “I am usually unemployed,and have realised that I need to start doing two to three films a year,” says Shahid,who will be working in Kunal Kohli’s next romantic film. As for Sonam,she is all set to pull a Charlize Theron act in Abbas Mastan’s Players,inspired by the Hollywood hit The Italian Job. The best thing about the film,says Sonam,is that “we all get to drive Mini Coopers”.

But right now,the actress is hoping for clear skies and flying colours on September 16 when Mausam releases.