For the kicks: An adrenaline junkie

Actor Kunal Kapoor truly believes in living life on the edge. Or else, how do you describe a man who loves pursuing flying, skydiving, parkour and now car racing?

"My mom and sister always pray that I'd take up some harmless hobby like gardening in the future," Kunal laughs out loud.
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The lean actor, who's now preparing to get a licence to fly a single engine plane, talks about his daring side:

Flying high
As a kid, I remember sitting at the reception area of Mumbai airport and observing the planes. I always had the desire to fly. So when I got some time off a year-and-half ago, I enrolled myself at this aviation academy at Sagar, near Bhopal.

I will never forget the experience when I first flew an aircraft. When you sit in the passenger's seat, you don't realise the speed of a plane, but it's a different ball game altogether in the cockpit. I am now preparing for my exams that will enable me to get a licence to fly a single engine plane.
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In school, I was weak in maths and physics, and those subjects have come back to haunt me again! I want to fly around India, starting from the North; that would be a great adventure.u00a0u00a0

Falling from the skies
I was introduced to skydiving by golfers Jyoti Randhawa and Digvijay Singh. The training again was at Sagar, around two years ago. This year, the two went to the US, but I couldn't join them. When I showed my skydiving pictures to my mom, I had to convince her that it wasn't as dangerous as it looked (laughs).
I want to go skydiving in the desert of Rajasthan. But it will be a problem if I land in a place where there's no help. After a few hours, I might start seeing a mirage of my mom shouting at me in the desert! My ultimate fantasy is to go skydiving in Antartica, but I don't think that'll be possible in this lifetime.

Parkour craze
Like many, I am also a big fan of Jackie Chan. I loved watching him jump from one building to another. And when I saw Daniel Craig climbing walls in Casino Royale, I knew that I had to learn this. So I went to London to learn parkour at a two-week workshop. I injured my neck doing a back flip and couldn't move it for two weeks. Ironically, it is not as dangerous as flying or skydiving. I would really like to showcase my parkour skills in an action flick.

Driving thrills
I have recently discovered this place for car racing near Khopoli. It has the necessary hills, curves, bends, ie everything for a car driving adventure. The cars are designed in a way that they don't overturn. It is run by rally drivers and you can drive as fast as you want. I would recommend this to those who love speed but can't drive super fast on Mumbai's roads.