Amole Gupte loses father, Hawaa Hawaai screening cancelled

On Thursday morning filmmaker-actor Amole Gupte’s father Sudhakar Laxman Gupte passed away. The tragedy created a double crisis in Amole’s professional life. While his shooting schedule with Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor in Singham 2 would have to be modified, most seriously affected is the promotional event for his own film Hawaa Hawaai which is all set to release next week. Both Amole who directs the film and his son Partho who plays the lead would now be unable to participate in the various media and academic events planned on the eve of the release. A serious blow to the film’s producers Fox Star India. Says a source close to Amole, “This is a big blow to both Amole and Partho. Both father and son were deeply attached to Amole’s father. They are in no condition to go on with the promotional activities.” Most severely and immediately affected are the series of motivational lectures that Amole planned with principals of schools across the country. Says a source close to the project, “The idea was to address principals of schools on the importance of letting students develop their special skills rather than forcing them into straitjackets and pre-decided aspirations. In fact this was what Amole’s first film Taare Zameen Par was about. It’d the theme of Hawaa Hawaai as well. Lectures in major cities were carefully planned. But now they stand cancelled.” Most immediately affected was the lecture for principals scheduled for Lucknow on Thursday. Plan B for the promotion of Hawaa Hawaai is to let the film’s other lead actor Saqib Salim go on with the promotional activities without Amole and Partho. “But there is no sense in doing that. Partho is the central character of the film. So there is no Plan B,” explains a source from the team.