Jolly Bastian’s death a shock to all, says Vijay

On Tuesday night, when Duniya Vijay received a text that his close aide and stunt director Jolly Bastian had passed away, the actor was shocked and unable to digest the news.
“Jolly was in Kerala shooting for a film and felt uneasy after what he said was an acid reflux. They took him to a hospital and the doctor declared that he was dead,” shares Vijay. Jolly is a veteran stunt choreographer who has worked in over 900 films over 25 years in various languages and was based in Bengaluru.
“I knew him much before I became a hero and our association goes way back, so he was more family than a technician I worked with. Jolly, true to his name, was an extremely happy-go-lucky man and one of the most soft-hearted people I’ve met. Such was the implicit trust we had in his work that when action scenes of high risk was being shot, including car accidents, we would just give in and relax. He would handle such sequences with great ease and dexterity. Recently, we had even shot a stunt sequence in Ramanagara with Jolly,” informs Vijay. “I often feel that the divine only chooses the good souls…this news made me question the whole point of existence,” ends the actor on a philosophical note.
From a mechanic to a stunt master
Jolly, like his father and grandfather, was a mechanic who enjoyed performing stunts on heavy bikes. In 1987, Jolly, who was 17 at the time made his debut as a stuntman for Ravichandran in the actor’s debut film, Premaloka. He then went on to work across all industries in the South as well as Bollywood. He also made his debut as a director in 2013 with Ninagagi Kadiruve, and had plans to direct another Kannada movie, too. Besides, Jolly was a gifted singer who ran an orchestra group.