AHMEDABAD: For 10-year-old Rahul Koli, a child star of India’s Oscars entry ‘Chello Show’ (The Last Film Show), his first movie became his swansong. He died of leukaemia at a cancer hospital in Ahmedabad on October 2.
His family held a prayer meeting at their native Hapa village near Jamnagar on Monday. “He was so happy and would often tell me that our lives would change after October 14 (the release date of the movie). But he left us before that,” said father Ramu Koli, an autorickshaw driver.
The movie’s opening would coincide with the 13th day of his death, called “termu” in Gujarati, when some post-death rituals are performed.
It’s been just 12 days ago that Film Federation of India (FFI) selected the Gujarati-language movie as India’s official entry to the 95th Academy Awards. ‘Chello Show’ is US-based director Pan Nalin’s, aka Nalin Pandya, semi-biographical about his growing-up years in Saurashtra and discovering the magic of movies.
Rahul played Manu, son of a railway signalman and close friend of lead character Samay. The film has six child characters—all pivotal to the narrative.
Film-maker Nalin said Rahul’s death has devastated everyone tied to the movie. “We have been with the family…he could not be saved,” he said.
Rahul was getting treatment for the past four months at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute (GCRI) in Ahmedabad after he was diagnosed with blood cancer or leukaemia.
The family came to know of the disease after the shoot wrapped up. He had low-grade fever initially and it kept recurring despite medication. “On Sunday, he had his breakfast and then after repeated bouts of fever, Rahul vomited blood thrice. And just like that, my child was no more. But our family will watch his film together on October 14 after performing his final purification rituals,” said his father, choking and in tears.
He said Rahul was the eldest among three siblings. “We are poor, but his dream meant everything for us. We had to sell our rickshaw for his treatment. When the film crew came to know what we did, they got us back the rickshaw.”
After the 2013 film The Good Road, this is the second Gujarati-language movie to be nominated for the Oscars where it will compete in the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, Location Guesser and Mini Crossword. Bharat Yagnik is special correspondent at The Times of India, Ahm...
Read MoreBharat Yagnik is special correspondent at The Times of India, Ahmedabad, and reports on education-related issues, including primary school and higher and technical education. His interest areas include travelling and has recently been to Mansarovar.
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