After doing a Bollywood masala movie full of action (Bade Miyan Chote Miyan), Akshay Kumar is back at what he is known for doing his best. Akshay Kumar's much-awaited movie Sarfira's trailer was released on Tuesday. Directed by critically acclaimed filmmaker Sudha Kongara, Sarfira is the remake of Sudha’s Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020), which starred Suriya in the lead role. Sarfira features Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal, and more in the leading roles. Notably, Sarfira's trailer showcased that South superstar Suriya will be doing a cameo in Akshay Kumar's upcoming movie. Slated to be released in theaters on July 12, 2024. Akshay Kumar's movie Sarfira is a true story based on the founder of Simplify Deccan G.R. Gopinath. Akshay Kumar plays the character of Vir Mhatre who dreams of making a cost-effective airline for the people of India. Now, the question arises who is real-life Vir Mhatre shown in Sarfira? Below is all about real life Vir Mhatre-
Who is real-life Vir Mhatre?
The answer is G.R. Gopinath. As mentioned above Sarfira is a true story based on the founder of Simplify Deccan G.R. Gopinath, the character of Vir Mhatre is also inspired by him. Based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Capt GR Gopinath's Linkedin profile bio says, "Pioneer of India's low-cost airline Air Decca. ex-army officer turned farmer then entrepreneur, in 1997, along with another colleague from the army, founded Deccan Aviation - India's largest Private Helicopter Chater Company. In 2003 he became the pioneer in launching India's first low-cost carrier Air Deccan - the common man's airline. It was the largest airline in terms of its reach/netwrok, the number of passengers flown and it's fleet size. The only company, which overtook Indian Airlines and gained the 2nd largest market share."
As per reports, G.R. Gopinath was born to a school teacher and a Kannada novelist. He finally went to school and college and went on to complete his education from the National Defence Academy, Pune, and graduated from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Soon, after a few years, his army life wasn’t making him happy so after taking an early retirement at 28, he went into trying new things – his first job was cultivating an ecologically sustainable sericulture farm followed by a dealership of Enfield at Malnad Mobikes.
In 1997, Gopinath co-founded Deccan Aviation. Initially, it was a charter helicopter service that gave him the idea to start his own airlines. In 2003, Gopinath his dream came through in the shape of Air Deccan, a low cost airline which later in 2007, partnered with Kingfisher Airlines.