A last wish remained unfulfilled for Phule

Nilu Phule wanted to essay role of only survivor of khairlanji massacre

A last wish remained unfulfilled for Phule

Nilu Phuleu00a0wanted to essay role of only survivor of khairlanji massacre

The Marathi film industry lost one of its most accomplished actors yesterday. Veteran actor Nilu Phule breathed his last at a hospital here after a prolonged battle with cancer. Although Phule acted in more than 130 films in his long career, his dream to play one of the most challenging roles remained unfulfilled.

Phule was excited to play the role of Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, the only surviving victim in the family of the Khairlanji massacre, in Ek Khairlanji. The film, based on the Khairlanji massacre, was to be directed by Raj Dutt.

After his historic role in Vishwanath, Ek Shimpi (Vishwanath, the tailor), based on the story of Dnyanpeeth Award winner Kusumagraj, Phule was thrilled at the prospect of playing Bhaiyyalal.

Socially conscious
"I will certainly play the role and I like the script," Phule had said eight months back when he kept good health.

The socially-conscious actor had been vocal in condemning the ghastly incident and hoped it does not happen ever again.

"It was Phule's dream role and a challenging project for me. In fact, I had written the script and dialogues keeping the great actor in mind. Phule was revolutionary by nature and would have portrayed the role with ease," Raj told MiD DAY. The actor had earlier played a complex role of an aggrieved father whose married daughter commits suicide post marriage in Raj's film Pudhche Paul (Next step).

Big loss
Unfortunately, the demise of the actor means the director will have to look at other options to play the important role. "We were waiting for Phule's recovery. Unfortunately his health deteriorated. It's unfortunate that we'll have to shoot the film without him," said Raj.

Dr Jabbar Patel, who directed Phule in his debut film Saamna which received international fame, said that the actor had a very acute sense of world cinema and was born for such roles. "He would have made Ek Kharilanji memorable", explained Patel. Ek Khairlanji is written by Sharankumar Limbale. Its screenplay and dialogues are by Sanjay Pawar. The music has been composed by Anand Modak.

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