Shahid flew the Tornado Battle Aircraft

In what is a first for Indian cinema, on Tuesday Shahid Kapoor flew a Tornado battle aircraft at the Royal Air-force airbase in Leuchars near Edinburgh as part of the shooting for his father"s Mausam. In the film Shahid plays an Air-force 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 Air-force 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 Air-force 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".