Raju Srivastava has left the world of life this morning. He had been motionless since he collapsed after training 41 days ago. There were reports that he was improving, but the truth was that these were people standing on a brave front and waiting for a miracle. But do miracles really happen?
Way back in his career, in fact as his first major film, Raju had worked in ex-Censor Chief and filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani’s ‘Mr Azad’. We spoke to Nihalani a few minutes ago. He said he is in a state of shock. “Raju was not an old man. It is shocking to die at his age,” adding: “Then he made us laugh and now he makes us cry.”
Nihalani says people in their thirties, forties and fifties are dropping dead these days, left, right and center. “I’m very concerned and I think everyone is. What the hell is going on around us? It’s incomprehensible. Some people say it’s the side effect of the vaccine booster dose. Some people say people do too much of hardcore gymming. All said and done, these are tragic times.”