TV actor Kavi Kumar Azad, who was best known for his role of Dr Hansraj Haathi in the popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma, died on Monday afternoon after suffering a cardiac arrest. Azad was unwell and was rushed to Mumbai’s Wokhardt Hospital after he complained of discomfort. However, doctors announced him dead on arrival. Reports said a post-mortem is being conducted and the actor’s parents, who had gone to attend a wedding in Lucknow, are returning to Mumbai.
The show’s producer, Asit Kumarr Modi, confirmed the news of the actor’s death. “We are very sad to inform loss of our senior actor Kavi Kumar Azaad. He was playing the character of Dr Hathi in Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta Chashma. We lost him to a massive cardiac arrest today morning. He was an amazing actor and a very positive person. He truly Loved the show and always came for the shoot even if he was not feeling well. He called today morning that he is not well and will not be able to come for shoot. And later we got the news that he passed away. We are all too numb to say anything,” Asit Kumarr Modi said in a statement.
Taarak Mehta’s rep revealed that despite being unwell for the last few days, Kavi was still reporting for the shoot of the show. “He spoke to Asit on phone that he won’t be coming for the shoot today as he was unwell. He has been unwell for the last few days but still reporting for work.”
Kavi played the role of Dr Haathi on Taarak Mehta for almost eight years, having replaced actor Nirmal Soni, who played the role for a year since the show’s inception, in 2009. Apart from working on the small screen, Azad had also featured in a few films including Aamir Khan’s Mela and Funtoosh.
He was an integral part of Taarak Mehta that has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for ‘airing the highest number of episodes’ on television, both original and repeat. On June 28 this year, the cast and crew celebrated not the end of 2500 episodes but towards the show’s 5000th episode.
