Run Bhola Run

About the film

Neeraj Vora (22 January 1963 – 14 December 2017) was an Indian film director, writer, actor and composer from Gujarat. He made a mark in Bollywood with his work as a writer for Ram Gopal Verma's film Rangeela (1995). His directorial debut was Akshay Kumar starrer Khiladi 420 in 2000 and also directed Phir Hera Pheri (2006). He has written screenplay and dialogues of some popular Bollywood comedy films including Hera Pheri franchise, Garam Masala (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Golmaal: Fun Unlimited (2006), Bhool Bhulaiya (2007). As an actor, his notable work includes Mann (1999), Hello Brother (1999), Khatta Meetha (2010), Bol Bachchan (2012).

He suffered a stroke in October 2016, putting him in coma. He was working on Hera Pheri 3 before he went into coma and died on 14 December 2017 at 4 a.m. in Criticare hospital, Mumbai.

Early life and career

Vora was born in Bhuj, Gujarat in a Gujarati family in 1963. But he grew up in Santacruz, a suburb of Mumbai, Maharashtra. His father, Pandit Vinayak Rai Nanalal Vora was a classical musician and a proponent of Tar-Shehnai. His father popularised Tar-Shehnai as the solo instrument for classical music.

During his college days, he started working professionally as an actor and he received intercollegiate awards for drama. In 1984, he worked for the film Holi, by Ketan Mehta and later did a television show Choti Badi Baatien, Circus.

He later worked as an actor in Rangeela too, as the film director wanted to bring down the sets and the actor was absent. Neeraj Vora, who had written the script, played the role to finish shooting. After seeing that scene, Anil Kapoor and Priyadarshan called him for Virasat, followed by Aamir for Mann and several other projects.One of the iconic ones are The role of Sr.Inspector in Hello Brother.

Illness and death

Neeraj Vora, who had been suffering from complications of a massive stroke for a long time, died at the age of 54 on 14 December 2017. The actor-director was reportedly in a coma for 13 months after suffering from the stroke. He reportedly died at 4 am at Criti Care hospital in Andheri, Mumbai. Vora had been staying at producer Firoz Nadiadwala's house since October 2016 after slipping into coma due to a heart-attack followed by a brain stroke. Nadiadwala had brought him to his home and converted a room into a makeshift Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

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