Rakeysh Mehra

OT: Best holiday?
Rakeysh Mehra: All of them have been good in their own way — Scotland for its scenic beauty and ease of travel, Ladakh for its great landscape and trekking opportunities, Australia’s Gold Coast for its deep sea diving.

OT: Worst holiday?
Rakeysh Mehra: How can there be a bad holiday? To get time for yourself is always beautiful.

OT: Best hotel you’ve stayed in?
Rakeysh Mehra: The Hayman Island Resort, set in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The resort, on a private island, is built around the natural landscape. So all the restaurants are walks. From my room I could jump into the hotel pool.

OT: One thing you always pack?
Rakeysh Mehra: My sneakers. I love to walk.

OT: Dream holiday?
Rakeysh Mehra: Only nature, no people.

OT: Scheduled to go next?
Rakeysh Mehra: I’m off to Sikkim for a trek.

OT: Travel advice?
Rakeysh Mehra: Always go to a new place.

OT: Travel disasters?
Rakeysh Mehra: I have been caught in a landslide in Himachal Pradesh. I have fallen into the rapids above Rishikesh. When 9/11 happened, I was flying back home from Australia. It wasn’t a restful flight.

OT: Did the filming of Rang de Basanti take you places?
Rakeysh Mehra: We started in Punjab, shifted to Delhi, then on to Jaipur, Mumbai and Nashik. In Punjab we were shooting in a small village in Taran Taaran, when I had a relapse of jaundice. I requested a friend to send me home-cooked food. He sent food for 25 people. By the third day of the shoot, he had started sending food for a 100 people. This is the warmth and large-heartedness of the people of Punjab. In Jaipur, we shot at Nahargarh Fort near Amer. This used to be my haunt during my college days. In Nashik, we shot for a couple of days in a sugarcane field. As we took our last shot and I said cut, miraculously, the monsoon broke! We didn’t have any spare time for sightseeing during the shooting.