Chhello Show actor Rahul Koli dies at 10 after fight against leukemia

“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,” Ramu told The Times of India.

Director, Nalin Pandya (Pan Nalin) shared that the film’s team was with the 10-year-old actor at the hospital, in his final days and shared that “he could not be saved.” Rahul played the role of Manu in the film, a close friend of Samay, who is the lead character.

Chhello Show, a Gujarati film that is India’s official entry to the Oscars this year, celebrates childhood and the joys and wonder of discovering new things. About the film being semi-biographical, Pan Nalin earlier told indianexpress.com in an interview, “The film is about my growing-up years in Saurashtra and discovering the magic of movies. It all started when my family asked me to go and meet one of my friends, who was a projectionist in a theatre which closed down, and was not in a good condition. That’s when I thought of making Chhello Show which has been with me for over a decade and I felt it was time to make it because small single screens were shutting down and things were changing rapidly. I wanted the audience to feel the magic of movies.”