Kuku Kohli has breathed his last.
On Tuesday, August 25, Hindustan Times reported that the Phool Aur Kaante director died at the age of 77 at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital at around 4:30 p.m. a day before the news made it to the headlines.
As per the report, Kohli’s cause of death was a “massive heart attack.”
“He was feeling uncomfortable and hence was admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital yesterday. He passed away due to a massive heart attack around 4:30 pm,” the late director’s filmmaker friend Ashoke Pandit told PTI.
In a video shared on Instagram, Kohli’s wife, Aruna Irani – with whom he secretly tied the knot in 1990 – can be seen crying as she arrived at the last rites of her late husband.
Wearing an all-white outfit as followed in Hindu tradition, the Dil Toh Pagal Hai actress looked visibly devastated upon the director’s passing.
About Kuku Kohli
Avtar "Kuku" Kohli was an Indian film director, producer screenwriter and editor, who made his directorial debut with 1991 movie Phool aur Kaante, starring Ajay Devgn.
Aruna Irani and Kuku Kohli relationship
Kuku Kohli and Aruna Irani first met while working in the film industry.
Their relationship initially began with frequent disagreements, but they gradually became friends and eventually fell in love.
Notably, at the time, Kohli was already married to his first wife, Rita Kohli, making his romance with Irani complicated and controversial.
The two tied the knot in 1990 and kept their marriage a “secret” for years. The actress finally spoke about their marriage four years ago, after the passing of the director’s first wife.
Speaking to The Times of India, the veteran actress shared, “We met each other during one of the films that we worked on together. During that film, he used to make all the other actors wait till Dharmendra ji arrived on sets to start the shoot. And I used to get very angry at him as I was too working on some other films at that time. So we started with a love and hate relationship. I used to get very upset with him and he used to console me. Don't know how we fell for each other due to that.”
She continued, "He didn't even tell me that he was married when we met, and that's how I fell in love with him. So it didn't feel right to speak about our relationship as he was already married with a wife and daughters. Now I am talking about it because his first wife passed away a few months back.”
Kuku Kohli is survived by his wife, Aruna Irani, and his two daughters, Pooja and Karishma, from his first marriage to Rita Kohli.
