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“Wow, what an unbelievable fall,” exclaims Rajeev Reddy. The 52-year-old CEO of leisure company Country Club India Ltd believes, like Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson, in daredevil stunts to endorse his company. Recently, he parachuted off a plane in Dubai for an ad film, which is being telecast across channels.
Reddy dived with his trademark thumbs up sign. “There was an adrenalin rush for a second. But I had no fear, as I was looking forward to such an experience. I took a deep breath, and jumped out of the plane with the sign.” It took him exactly seven minutes to touch the ground. The first one minute was free-fall, at a speed of 200 kmph. Reddy says that is the greatest part of it. “It was so cold and windy up there. You can feel your face going totally out of shape,” he describes his experience.
He has done quite a few extreme sports earlier, including scuba diving, rock climbing and white river rafting. “But I would say taking a jump out of a plane from 13,500 feet is the most adventurous thing I have ever done before,” he said.
With him dived the entire film crew. Mani Shankar, director of the ad film, had flown in two cameramen from London for the shoot. Shankar, who has over 1,500 ad films and a handful of Bollywood movies to his credit, including Rudraksh , Tango Charlie and Knock Out , says it was very thrilling. How many CEOs of big companies would dare do that, he asks, saying, “Reddy takes his brand endorsement so seriously.” The entire team had to go through several hours of training at an indoor wind tunnel in Dubai, where they were taught how to manoeuvre themselves while falling at such a speed. Prior to that the now 90-kg Reddy had to lose 10 kg to meet the fitness requirement. “He did all that with great enthusiasm,” says Shankar.
The Rs 350-crore BSE-listed Country Club recently launched its Billionaire Card, a premium membership card. The TV commercial is to promote this card. “It manifests the aspirational spirit of the members. And, I would like everyone to live their life to its fullest,” says a cheerful Reddy.
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