Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah actor Kavi Kumar Azad passes away

TV actor Kavi Kumar Azad, best-known for his role of Dr Hansraj Haathi in the popular comedy show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, died today after suffering a cardiac arrest, news agency reports. Mr Azad was unwell and was admitted at Wokhardt Hospital in Mumbai. Asit Kumarr Modi, the producer of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, confirmed the news of the actor's death. "We are very sad to inform the loss of our senior actor Kavi Kumar Azad. He was playing the character of Dr Hathi in Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah. We lost him to a massive cardiac arrest today morning," Mr Modi said in a statement, reported.

"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 saying 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," he added.

Apart from working in TV shows, Kavi Kumar Azad had also featured in films like Mela, starring Aamir Khan and Twinkle Khanna, and Funtoosh.

Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is based on the column Duniya Ne Oondha Chashma, written by Gujarati playwright Taarak Mehta, who died last year in March.

Just a few days ago, team Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah had celebrated the completion of 2500 episodes. Dilip Joshi, Disha Vakani, Shailesh Lodha, Amit Bhatt and Neha Mehta headline the show's cast.