Kamal Ghorui
As tensions escalated across parts of West Asia and flight operations in the region faced disruptions, actor couple Ram Kapoor and Gautami Kapoor found themselves in Dubai — a city they know well, but one that suddenly felt unusually still. While news alerts, rumours and worried calls from loved ones poured in, the two say they have chosen to stay calm.Ram, who frequently travels to the UAE, says, “We have a house here, and I come here every two to three months. Gautami arrived just a day before the situation escalated. Our son is away on a school trip, and our daughter is studying in the US, so Gautami decided to join me.”
The couple first sensed that something unusual was unfolding while they were at the Dubai Mall. “We stay in Burj Khalifa. We were at the Dubai Mall and noticed the mall was slowly beginning to close down. That’s when we realised something had happened. Luckily, since Burj Khalifa is connected to the mall, we just took the elevator up to our home. For the next two days, things were largely shut, so we stayed indoors,” shares Ram.Gautami adds, “We came home, and the kids were calling constantly. Everyone was worried because of the rumours that Burj Khalifa had been evacuated. But this is one of the most protected buildings here, and we feel safe.”They admit that Dubai feels unusually quiet right now. “We had never seen Dubai like this. It is always lively with people from all over the world, so seeing it so quiet felt eerie. But hats off to the government for handling things so well. For us, Dubai truly feels like our home away from home,” Gautami says.Ram adds that authorities are keeping residents informed about the situation. “Updates are coming regularly through messages,” he says. While some friends chose to leave the city in haste, the actor didn’t feel the need to do so. “One of my closest friends from my college days in New York was here in Dubai with his fiancée. They were panicking, so they drove overnight to Muscat — about five hours — crossed the border and then flew to Mumbai and from there to Delhi,” says Ram, adding, “We will return to Mumbai as per our plans (WHEN).”
