Ain’t no sunshine when he’s gone: Actor Hosi Vasunia dead

Eminent theatre personality Hosi Vasunia (65) passed away this afternoon at his office at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). He...

Eminent theatre personality Hosi Vasunia (65) passed away this afternoon at his office at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). He had a massive heart attack and was rushed to Jaslok Hospital, but was declared dead on arrival.

Vasunia, an actor, producer and director for the past 30 years, is survived by wife Dinoo, daughters Shernaz and Anu and son, Phiroz. The funeral will be held on Friday morning at the Tower of Silence in Dungarwadi.

‘‘I grew up watching Vasunia on stage. I remember he would walk on the stage and the audience would start applauding,’’ says actor Shernaz Patel, whose hit play Love Letters was produced by Vasunia for the past 13 years.

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He represented a generation of theatre which is fading, said director Sam Kerawala, who spotted Vasunia’s talent in his college days. ‘‘We were a team, when he acted I invariably directed and when he directed, I produced,’’ said Kerawala, who directed Vasunia’s latest play The Sunshine Boys.

Actor Kunal Vijaykar, who had acted in Vasunia’s Charlie’s Aunt in 1990, will never forget the older man’s generosity. ‘‘We had taken the show to Kolkata. When he realised that we couldn’t afford to party at the Pink Elephant, he paid the Rs 300 cover charge for every member of the cast,’’ recalled Vijaykar.

‘‘My mother is very distraught, she’s still in a state of shock as it happened in front of her,’’ said actor/director Anahita Uberoi, whose mother Vijaya Mehta, head of NCPA, was with Vasunia when he suffered the heart attack.

His son-in-law, Zulfi Tayyabji recalled how Vasunia used to go to the CCI lawns every evening to meet his friends. ‘‘They knew each other since they were 15 and called themselves the L-gang,’’ he said. Calling him the master of comedy, director Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal reminisced how he would manage to crack a joke, even when he was furious or upset.

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Vasunia was closely associated with The Indian Express group’s annual Screen awards. ‘‘Every October I would get a call from Hosi and he would say, ‘Our love affair has started.’ Till January we would work endlessly for the function,’’ said Bhawana Somaaya, editor, Screen. ‘‘Yash Chopra had offered him roles in his various films but he didn’t take them up.’’

Vasunia’s The Sunshine Boys was scheduled to be staged at the St Andrews Auditorium in Bandra two weeks ago, but was cancelled because of the rains. ‘‘When I saw Hosi, I kept hoping he’d get up and say the whole thing’s a joke,’’ said a tearful Vishal Asrani, his co-star The Sunshine Boys. ‘‘There’s no sunshine without him now.’’

(With inputs from Srimoyee Mitra)