Jolly Bastain debuted in films as a stunt double of actor-director Ravichandran in the Kannada film 'Prema Loka' in 1987.
Published Dec 27, 2023 | 12:43 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 27, 2023 | 12:43 PM
Stunt Master Jolly Bastian is no more. (Supplied)
Stunt director Jolly Bastian, who worked in over 970 films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Punjabi, and Bengali industries, is no more.
He even worked in a Sri Lankan film.
jolly Bastian died of cardiac arrest at his residence in Bengaluru on Tuesday, 26 December. He was 57.
He is survived by his wife and two children, a son, and a daughter.
The funeral service will be at Ulsoor cemetery in Bengaluru on 29 December.
Born in Alleppey in Kerala, Jolly Bastian was brought up in Bengaluru. Like his father and grandfather, he too started as a bike mechanic technician.
His passion for doing stunts on his two-wheeler caught the attention of Crazy star Ravichandran’s assistant Murthy. Thereafter, he was introduced to the star actor-director who was making his biggest-ever project Prema Loka (1987), which became a milestone in the Indian film industry.
Jolly was just 17 when he first worked as a stunt double for Ravichandran. Eventually, he made his debut as an independent stunt choreographer for Ravichandran’s yet another blockbuster Kannada film Putnanja (1995).
Apart from stunts, he even directed his only Kannada film titled Ninagaagi Kadiruve which was released in 2009. Unfortunately, the movie starring Pooja Gandhi and Vishal Hegade did not fare well at the box office.
Jolly Bastian choreographed stunts for Duniya Vijay’s second directorial film Bheema. Apart from Upendra’s next 45, which marks composer Arjun Janya’s directorial debut, Jolly Bastian had at least five films in Malayalam and a couple of projects in Telugu.
A former president of the Karnataka Stunt Directors and Professionals Association, Jolly Bastian was also a singer, director and producer. He even ran an orchestra group called “24 Events”.
The Kannada film industry bids adieu to the daring stunt master.
