GR GOPINATH – A TALE OF SHEER WILLPOWER AND RESILIENCE
Sarfira Movie Real Story and know who GR Gopinath was: GR Gopinath aka Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar Gopinath is an Indian entrepreneur, founder of Air Deccan, retired Captain of the Indian Army, an author, and a politician. Born on November 13, 1951, in a Tamil family, and was brought up in a small village in Gorur in the Hassan district of Karnataka State.
Gopinath's father Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar was a school teacher who believed that schools were systems of regimentation and was resolved to teach Gopinath at home. However, he was admitted to a Kannada medium school very late and immediately joined grade 5th. He cleared the entrance test and joined the Sainik School, Bijapur which helped him clear the NDA exam after vigorous training from the National Defence Academy, Pune, he went to the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun for graduation.
Later he earned a commission in the Indian army, reaching the top Captain rank. He spent eight years in the military and fought the 1971 -72 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Feeling constrained by army life, he retired early from the Indian Army at 28. He launched an eco-friendly sericulture farm post-retirement, earning the Rolex Laureate Award in 1996 for his innovative techniques. He then founded Malnad Mobikes (an Enfield dealership) and opened a hotel in Hassan. In 1997, he co-founded Deccan Aviation, a helicopter charter service. In 2003, he started Air Deccan, a low-cost airline, which merged with Kingfisher Airlines in 2007. In 2009, he founded Deccan 360, a freight service, which was dissolved in 2013 by court order. He received the "Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur" in 2006 and has won numerous awards. He unsuccessfully ran for political office in 2009 and 2014.
In 1992, Gopinath relocated to Bengaluru where he reconnected with his army comrade, Captain K.J. Samuel, a freelance pilot with ambitions to establish a commercial helicopter service. Harnessing the Indian government's deregulation efforts in 1995, Gopinath joined forces with Samuel to found Deccan Aviation. Their helicopters were sought after by politicians and used extensively in rescue missions across Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kabul, and South India, propelling Deccan Aviation to become a prominent private air charter company in India and Sri Lanka.
Inspired by Southwest Airlines and Ryanair, Gopinath launched India's first budget airline, Air Deccan, in 2003. Despite initial success, Air Deccan faced financial challenges, leading to its merger with the UB Group's Kingfisher Airlines in 2007. Gopinath subsequently sold most of his stake in the merged entity in 2009. He then ventured into cargo aviation with Deccan 360, which closed in 2011 due to financial constraints. Gopinath regained control of Deccan Charters and launched Deccan Shuttles in Gujarat in 2012, a service that concluded in 2013. In 2017, under the UDAN scheme, Deccan Charters won bids to operate regional routes under the Air Deccan brand, focusing on connecting major Indian cities with nearby towns.
Gopinath's remarkable journey serves as a timeless source of inspiration, with his life story set to be immortalized on the silver screen in the upcoming social drama, "Sarfira", directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sudha Kongara and portrayed by the talented Akshay Kumar.
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