The Chhello Show or Last Film Show famed child actor Rahul Koli passed away at the age of 10 from cancer. He was one of the six young performers that appeared in the movie, which is India’s official submission for the 95th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.
According to reports, Rahul’s father stated that the late child actor had multiple bouts of fever and vomited blood before his death. He stated that the family will watch Chhello Show together after performing Rahul’s last rites. The film will be released on October 14th.
“On Sunday, October 2, he had his breakfast and then after repeated bouts of fever in the following hours, Rahul vomited blood thrice and just like that my child was no more. Our family is devastated. But we will watch his ‘last film show’ together on the release day on October 14 after we perform his final purification rituals,” his father Ramu Koli told Times of India. Rahul was his eldest child.
Inspired by Pan Nalin’s own memories of falling in love with movies as a child in rural Gujarat, Last Film Show is set at the cusp of the digital revolution. Set in a remote rural village of Saurashtra, the film follows the story of a nine-year-old boy who begins a lifelong love affair with cinema when he bribes his way into a rundown movie palace and spends a summer watching movies from the projection booth.
The film, starring debutant child actor Bhavin Rabari as Samay, had premiered at the 2021 edition of the New York-set Tribeca Film Festival, which counts Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro as one of its founders. It will release in theatres on October 14. A day before its official release, Last Film Show will be screened in 95 theatres across India, with tickets priced at ₹95.
Chhello Show was chosen unanimously over films such as SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Ranbir Kapoor’s Brahmastra: Part One Shiva, Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files, and R Madhavan’s directorial debut Rocketry, according to FFI president TP Aggarwal.