 "Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actors react to Kavi Kumar Azad's passing: He was a happy-go-lucky guy")
Kavi Kumar Azad, the actor who portrayed Dr Hathi in the popular television show Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma, passed away due to massive cardiac arrest on Monday. The show’s official Twitter handle posted about the actor’s untimely demise:
Azad had been unwell for the past few days and was admitted to Wokhardt Hospital, according to News18. He reportedly slipped into a coma at night on Sunday (8 July). Asit Kumarr Modi, the show’s creator issued a statement to IANS saying, “We are very sad to inform the loss of our senior actor Kavi Kumar Azad. He was playing the character of Dr Hathi in Taarak Mehta… We lost him to a massive cardiac arrest today morning”. Now, other actors of Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma have also spoken out about Azad’s death. Actor Dilip Joshi, who plays the central character Jethalal in the show, has expressed shock at the news of his co-star’s sudden demise. In a statement to Hindustan Times, he said, “I am in London, I have no idea about this sad news. Even I am getting calls from everywhere and it is very shocking. I need to find out what happened.” Mandar Chandwadkar, who plays Bhide in the same show, talked to Spotboye and said, “It’s such a shocking news. This morning we all were supposed to shoot for a sequence together at Filmcity. But then we came to know he is unwell so we decided to let him rest and go ahead with the scene without him. I will only say he completed all his work before leaving us. This was a fresh scene which we were supposed to shoot (crying). He didn’t leave anything incomplete. He was such a happy go lucky man. I still can’t believe that he is not with us. We used to sit together, eat together. As soon as he used to come, even before greeting us with a good morning, he used to ask, ‘Tiffin mein kya laya hai?’ He was a foodie in real life also. He is irreplaceable.” While talking to IANS, actor Samay Shah, who plays Gogi in the sitcom, said, “He always motivated me to work hard. He also has an eating joint called Kusum Rolls. He used to ask me to get him Jain food and I used to tell him to include Jain food in Kusum Rolls’ menu. His death news came as a shock to all of us. It happened suddenly. He used to feel unwell on the set sometimes. He used to be down with fever or have weakness. But he never let the show’s shooting get effected. He used to shoot his part first,” he said. Actress Munmun Dutta, who plays Babita Iyer on the show, wrote the following on Twitter:
Dutta also posted a long, heartfelt message on Instagram dedicated to Azad.
Bhavya Gandhi, known for playing Tappu on the show, posted an emotional message for Azad too.
Jennifer Mistry Bansiwal, who portrays Mrs Roshan Sodhi, posted the following.
Nidhi Bhanishali, who portrayed Sonu Bhide, also tweeted her condolence.
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