Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah team remembers ‘Dr Haathi’ Kavi Kumar Azad on 1st death anniversary

It’s been one year since actor Kavi Kumar Azad’s death and his friends and colleagues are sharing messages in his memory.

The cast and crew of hit comedy show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah have shared special messages on the one year death anniversary of their late co-star Kavi Kumar Azad. Actors Dilip Joshi and Ambika Rajankar shared throwback pictures on social media to mark the day.

Kavi Kumar Azad played Dr Hansraj Haathi on Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

Asit Kumar Modi, the show’s producer, remembered Kavi and said the team missed him. “We miss him but nothing in our hand and in replacement of him Mr. Nirmal Soni playing the role is doing his job very sincerely,” he told Pinkvilla. He also shared a post dedicated to Kavi on Twitter. “I am not a piece of paper that the wind would blow me away,” she shared a quote by Kavi in his tweet and offered his prayers on his death anniversary.

The show’s lead. Dilip (who plays Jethalal on the show) shared Kavi’s picture on Instagram and wrote, “Miss you Hathi bhai.” Tanmay Vekaria also shared message:“On his first death anniversary, his is still living in our hearts#azadbhai #drhathi #kavikumarazad #missingyou #tarakmehtakaultachashma #neelatelefilms.”

Kavi Kumar Azad, who played the friendly Dr Hansraj Haathi on the show, died last year of heart attack, leaving his fans around the world shocked. Azad was unwell and was taken to Mumbai’s Wokhardt Hospital after he complained of discomfort. However, doctors announced him dead on arrival. 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.

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 last year, the cast and crew celebrated the 5000th episode.

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