The fly-away mum

Not one to be cornered into toeing the line, actor, pilot and former beauty queen Gul Panag gets candid about the challenges she faced as a new mum, recounts all her blessings and proclaims her desire to be the perfect role model to Nihal.

- KRISELLE FONSECA

In her career spanning almost two decades, Gul Panag has starred in a number of films that have been widely acclaimed. Besides appearing on the silver screen, she is also a certified pilot, a car and bike enthusiast, and even contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While much has been said about her roles onscreen, her life off-screen has always been kept away from the public eye. She announced her marriage to long-time partner Rishi Attari on the day of her wedding itself, and before that, not much was known about her airline pilot husband.

Staying true to character, she took everyone by surprise when she announced the birth of their son Nihal, especially since word of her pregnancy never even got out! However, it seems like her need to keep her personal life within its space was effortless, seeing as she maintains that she and hubby Rishi have ‘always been private people.’

But that’s not what got people talking. The fact that she had her child at the age of 39 certainly raised a few eyebrows, and with good reason. While tabloids wrote about her shunning her ‘biological clock’, Gul reiterates that her decision to have her baby was based solely on her being ready for motherhood.