Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
Mad about birds
SUDHISH KAMATH
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Hawk, Extra 300, Titanium Raptor, Spectra helicopter... Madhavan shows off his dexterity, flying his aero models.
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Photo: By author
High flyer Madhavan calls it his high tension, high relief hobby
As a child, he flew kites. These days, he’s into birds. The hi-flier has hardly been in town over the last few months, given his never-ending schedule of films and endorsements.
After nearly two months of co-ordinating dates, we nearly gave up and told him we would settle for a chat about his planes in his garden.
His answer was an emphatic NO. “You can’t just talk about these things, you have to see them. As soon as I’m back. Two weeks.”
Madhavan kept his word. At 5.30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, I got to his Boat Club Road residence to watch his Men Friday loading the planes into his cars. I had forgotten to bring my aim and shoot digital camera along, and Madhavan offered his digital SLR Nikon D200.
“We’re heading to Red Hills,” he says. “Some of the planes need a runway.” We made just one stop to pick up Arvind, his cinematographer friend and flying guide.
By about 7 a.m. we were there at the runway where World War II planes once used to touch down.
This rundown runaway was now reduced to a shooting spot, thanks to the red soil, blue skies, plenty of green for landscape and water in the vicinity. Sporting a customised ‘Maddy Boy’ cap, Madhavan asks his assistants to unload the planes and after consulting Arvind decides to begin with the Red Hawk.
The Hawk is a miniature jet, a plane he was going to fly for the first time after his friend had crashed it.
Attack of nerves
He seemed a little nervous. “These are delicate,” he says, as Arvind and he do some last minute checks. Once the jet takes off, he’s too tense to talk.
“Hey, your camera is on timer. How do I turn it off?” No answer, he’s a picture of concentration. Once it lands safely, he tells me to click away as I please because when he’s controlling the plane he can’t afford to do anything else. It needs all his attention. The hawk takes another glorious flight and Madhavan is pleased with himself. Crash or no crash, the bird was on a song as I struggled to find my rhythm with the sophisticated gizmo in my hand. Next, he wanted to try out his newly acquired pet – the Extra 300.
It’s a larger plane than the others and a favourite among aero-modellers who like their machines to do a bit of acrobatics in the sky. “Flying it for the first time,” he says, as Arvind sets it up for him.
Spotting them trying to start the fan, I decide it is time to steal a few more pictures. By now, we’ve started getting attention. Stray motorists decide to make a halt, as one of them pulls out a phone to tell his friend what he’s seeing: actor Madhavan flying planes.
Once the engine starts, Maddy warns me to get away lest the mud hits the camera lens. A few moments later, he has another dream debut, as he delightfully flips the plane upside down for a loop. The plane was built for such thrills, after all. I’m getting my thrills too as I discover the power of his zoom lens, getting a near perfect series of shots of the plane landing.
Next, he decides to fly his passion: Helicopters. “It takes at least two inputs to keep it hovering at one place, balanced. But when the helicopter’s nose faces you, all the controls go the opposite direction. Your orientation has to switch… left for you becomes right for the chopper. And if it is upside down again, it’s a split second decision to hit the right inputs on the radio.”
It was only about two years ago that Maddy had his first tryst with aero-modelling when he picked up a battery-operated yellow and orange helicopter for about $50 in New York.
Later, he picked one up in Singapore and that met with a similar fate in a hotel room in Vishakapatnam.
It crashed the moment it took off. “That’s when I realised I was doing something wrong. It was while trying to find parts for the chopper that I found Arvind and he’s been my flying guru since.”
Arvind sets up the kits, programmes the controls and tips him off about the best buys.
The first plane Madhavan flew was a battery-operated Cessna.
“I actually did the bunt loop. It’s one of the more difficult manoeuvres. After I flew the plane, Arvind suggested I fly the Raptor. That’s how I first fell in love with helicopters.”
So then, Maddy took out his Titanium Raptor out next and flew it with great confidence and flair.
“At 1400 revolutions per minute, the blades are at a speed of nearly 200 miles per hour. They can slice this car into two at the speed,” he says pointing towards his Pajero. “It is a high tension and high relief hobby. Between aero-modelling and golf, I have my hands full.”
Soon, the run away is taken over by trucks of an army battalion doing their convoy training. One of them stops to take a look at Madhavan fly his fourth toy for the day – the Spectra helicopter.
“It’s so stable despite the wind,” the army officer notes. The officers seem thrilled about these machines, not really recognising Madhavan as the movie-star who flew MIGs in “Rang De Basanti”. As he brings it down, he sees the helicopter has totally run out of the Nitro-Methane fuel and announces: Pack up.
“Good day of flying,” says Madhavan, munching sandwiches at around 9.30 a.m., as everybody digs into the box for a bite and an eagle swoops down to claim its runway back. Eagle – the feathered one, that is.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
