Actor-model Mukul Dev passed away on Friday, leaving the industry in shock. He remains best known for appearing in films such as Son of Sardaar, R…Rajkumar and Jai Ho, but there was something else Dev was highly passionate about: aviation.
Even the last post on his Instagram is a video of him flying his plane over the clouds in peace.
The video was overlaid with a karaoke version of a song from Pink Floyd’s iconic album ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. The caption of the post read, “And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too…. I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon,” which is part of the lyrics from the same song, “Brain Damage.”
Before he switched to acting and modelling, Mukul Dev completed his aviation training at the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Akademi in Raebareli. He even worked as a commercial pilot for nearly a decade and also ran an aeronautical training institute. He had talked about his journey as a pilot in an interview with Eastern Eye and said, “I was a pilot before I became an actor. So I will never forget clearing my flying academy exams and getting a scholarship to become a commercial pilot. I could not have asked for anything better.”
Fans of the actor flooded the comments section of the video and expressed their grief over his tragic death. One user wrote, “RIP, sir. One of the finest actors since the 90s,” while many users shared GIFs of crying with the message ‘Rest In Peace’. In an earlier post, he had posted a picture of a light aircraft, a Cessna. The caption read, “Echo November India. She gave me wings and taught me a few tricks in the skies.”
Other stars such as Manoj Bajpayee, Vindu Dara Singh, and Deepshikha Nagpal have all shared emotional messages on their social media, showing their love for Dev. Vindu talked about Dev’s health in detail and told SCREEN that he had not been keeping well since his mother passed away and was almost in a state of depression.