Nepali actor Sunil Thapa, 68, who played Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ boxing coach in Mary Kom (2014), died on Saturday following a cardiac episode. Filmmaker Omung Kumar, who directed the film, remembered the late actor and their association.

“We were looking for someone with the right physique and a very expressive face,” Omung recalls, adding, “When I saw a video of Sunil Thapa ji, the superstar from Nepal, I was immediately kicked about it. I also remembered him from Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981).”

Omung believes the casting felt almost destined. “Two years before Mary Kom, I had sketched the coach’s character in my storyboard. When I met Thapa ji, I realized the sketch looked exactly like him,” he says. He also recalls how Thapa became a source of strength for Priyanka after her father Ashok Chopra died days before the shoot began in 2013: “By the end of the film, Sunil had become like a father figure to her.”

Thapa appeared in over 300 Nepali films. He was widely known for his iconic role as Rate Kaila in the film Chino and was recently seen in The Family Man Season 3.

“You will always be my Coach Sir. You kept me together when I had just lost my dad. You loved me and helped me through many tough days without even realising. Your warm hugs and your laugh will always be part of my memories,” she wrote on Instagram.

She added, “Gone too young but never forgotten. Thank you for your kindness at a time when I was broken. Rest in peace, Sunil Thapa.”