Child star of India's Oscar entry 'Chhello Show' dies of blood cancer days before movie release
Ahmedabad, Oct 11: Rahul Koli was very much excited to see "Chhello Show", India's official entry to Oscars 2023, on screen, but days before its release the teenage actor who played the character of the friend of the protagonist in the Gujarati film died of leukemia.
He was 17.
"Chhello Show" (Last Film Show), directed by Pan Nalin, is slated for October 14 release.
Rahul, who hails from Hapa town in Gujarat's Jamnagar district, died of leukemia on October 2, nearly four months after he was hospitalised at the cancer hospital in Ahmedabad, his father Ramu Koli said on Tuesday.
Rahul has played the role of the friend of the nine-year-old protagonist Samay (Bhavin Rabari) in the Gujarati coming-of-age drama "Chhello Show".
The film was nominated as India's official entry for the 95th Academy Awards.
"Rahul was looking forward to watching the movie on the big screen. He used to say that the release of the movie would launch his future, little knowing that he would die before October 14," Koli, an autorickshaw driver, told PTI over the phone.
Rahul was diagnosed with leukaemia- the cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues- this year. He was initially treated at a Jamnagar hospital. After remaining in the hospital for two weeks, he was admitted to the Ahmedabad cancer hospital four months ago.
"He was undergoing treatment and breathed his last on October 2," Koli said.
Rahul had only seen the trailer of the movie. He was very keen to watch it in the theatre, the grieving father recalled.
Koli said the makers of the movie helped them a lot with Rahul's treatment.
"When he (director Nalin) came to know about it, he extended all possible help to us. He was even planning to shift Rahul to Mumbai," said Koli.
Rahul was selected for the role through an audition conducted in Jamnagar.
"He was picked for an audition from a government school at Hapa where he lived with his family," said Lalit Joshi, a Jamnagar-based theatre artist.
The movie is inspired by Nalin's own memories of falling in love with movies as a child in rural Gujarat and is set in a remote rural village of Saurashtra.
The film portrays the story of a nine-year-old boy and his lifelong love affair with cinema when he bribes his way into a rundown movie palace and spends a summer watching movies from the projection booth.
"Chhello Show", which features Bhavin Rabari, Bhavesh Shrimali, Richa Meena, Dipen Raval and Paresh Mehta, had its world premiere as the opening film at the Tribeca Film Festival in June last year.
It won multiple awards during its festival run, including the Golden Spike at the 66th Valladolid Film Festival in Spain where it also enjoyed commercial success during its theatrical run.
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ISRO's analogue space mission kicks off at Leh
Bengaluru, Nov 1: ISRO on Friday said its analogue space mission has taken off at Leh in Ladakh, where it will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat as India prepares to send a human to the moon.
The initiative is a collaborative effort of the Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and supported by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.
The month-long mission, kicked off mid-October, comes in the wake of India's plans to set up lunar habitats, which could provide a base to launch inter-planetary missions.
The geographical features of Ladakh are considered to closely resemble Martian and lunar landscapes and are an ideal training ground for scientific missions aimed at exploring planets "India's first analog space mission kicks off in Leh...this mission will simulate life in an interplanetary habitat to tackle the challenges of a base station beyond Earth," ISRO said in a post on X.
The team of AAKA Space Studio is testing environment suits and conducting geological studies in Leh's low-oxygen environment, simulating space-like conditions, studies that could be crucial for future space missions.
The team is also studying how the human body adapts to the harsh weather conditions in Ladakh that could be useful in understanding how astronauts could get used to space like conditions.
🚀 India’s first analog space mission kicks off in Leh! 🇮🇳✨ A collaborative effort by Human Spaceflight Centre, ISRO, AAKA Space Studio, University of Ladakh, IIT Bombay, and supported by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, this mission will simulate life in an… pic.twitter.com/LoDTHzWNq8
— ISRO (@isro) November 1, 2024
