The industry and fans woke up to the news of Dr. Haathi aka Kavi Kumar Azad of Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma passing away. According to reports in Spotboye, the actor slipped into a coma the previous night and was immediately admitted to a hospital where he died of a heart attack this morning. The TMKOC team cancelled their shoot for the day after hearing this heart breaking news. Reacting to the news, Jethalal Gada aka Dilip Joshi told Hindustan Times, "I am in London, I have no idea about this sad news. Even I am getting calls from everywhere and it is very shocking. I need to find out what happened."

Disha Vakani, who is on her maternity leave taking care of her seven-month-old daughter, told TOI, "I am still unable to fathom that he is no more with us. It's beyond shocking. He was one finest people around." The actress also recalled how he was just like his onscreen character who loves food and loved feeding everyone. She also spoke about how he specially got gulab jamuns for her during her pregnancy. Mandar Chandwadkar, who plays the role of Bhide, broke down over the phone speaking about the actor's sudden demise.

He told Spotboye, "It’s such a shocking news. This morning we all were supposed to shoot for a sequence together at Filmcity. But then we came to know he is unwell so we decided to let him rest and go ahead with the scene without him. I will only say he completed all his work before leaving us. This was a fresh scene which we were supposed to shoot (crying). He didn’t leave anything incomplete. He was such a happy go lucky man. I still can’t believe that he is not with us. We used to sit together, eat together. As soon as he used to come, even before greeting us with a good morning, he used to ask, ‘Tiffin mein kya laya hai?’ He was a foodie in real life also. He is irreplaceable. Sahi maayane mein Azad ho gaya. I am sorry, I have to keep the phone, I can’t talk any more. [sic]"

We hope the family finds the strength to cope up with the actor's loss. Kavi Kumar Azad will be terribly missed and we hope he rests in peace. Post your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned with us for more details.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2018 08:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).