Mumbai: Gul Panag, who started her journey from the Hindi film industry to the world of politics, is celebrating her 41st birthday Friday.
Gul was born 3 January 1979 in Chandigarh. Her real name is Gulkirat Kaur Panag. She is a pilot, car racer, actress, VO artist and politician.
Gul married her childhood friend pilot Rishi Attari in 2011. The wedding took place at a gurudwara in Chandigarh and became quite a buzz at that time, because the farewell (Bidai) saw Gul leave her parents on a bullet. They have a 6-month-old son Nihal.
Gul became a mother at the age of 39 but kept her son hidden from the world.
The actress won the Miss India title in 1999, and was crowned Miss Beautiful Smile at the same pageant. She also participated in the Miss Universe 1999 pageant.
Gul made her debut in the film industry in 2003 with the film Dhoop. Some of her notable films include Manorama Six Feet Under, Hello, Straight, and Ab Tak Chhappan 2. In 2008, Gul was in the news for her very bold photoshoot for Maxim magazine. Apart from Hindi films, she has also worked in Punjabi films.
Gul has also tried her luck in politics. She was the Aam Aadmi Party candidate from Chandigarh for 2014 Indian general elections. She came on third position with 1,08,679 votes, while Kirron Kher won the election with 1,91,362 votes.
Since then Gul has almost disappeared from the political scene.
