Rahul Koli, one of the six child protagonists of Chhello Show or Last Film Show died at the age of 10. He was suffering from leukemia, also known as blood cancer. He appeared in the movie, which is India’s official submission for the 95th Academy Awards’ Best International Feature Film category.

The late child actor, according to his father, Ramu Koli, had frequently suffered from fever and vomited blood before he passed away. He stated that the family would watch Chhello Show together following Rahul’s final rites. The film will be released on October 14.

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“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”, his father said in an interview.

Koli’s family is devastated, according to him. “But we will watch his ‘last film show’ together on the release day on October 14 after we perform his final purification rituals,” he continued. 

The time period of Last Film Show, which is at the dawn of the digital revolution, was inspired by Pan Nalin‘s own memories of becoming obsessed with movies as a young child in rural Gujarat. The plot narrates the tale of a nine-year-old boy, who begins a lifelong love affair with cinema after he bribes his way into a dilapidated movie theater and spends a summer viewing films from the projection booth. The film is set in a distant village of Saurashtra in Gujarat. 

Bhavin Rabari, a debutant child actor, also starred in the film.

The movie made its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which was founded by Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro. On October 14, it will be released in theaters. The Last Film Show will be shown at 95 theaters across India on the day before its official release, with tickets costing Rs. 95.

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Chhello Show was unanimously chosen over movies like 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.