Sridevi Cremated With State Honours. Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif Attend Funeral

New Delhi:  Iconic actress Sridevi was cremated with state honours in Mumbai on Wednesday. Her last rites were attended by Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and other stars, as well as industrialist Anil Ambani. Wrapped in the national flag and dressed in bridal red, Sridevi was taken to the Pawan Hans crematorium in Vile Parle from the Celebration Sports Club in Lokhandwala, where the film fraternity and thousands of fans, some of them who had come from Chennai and Karnataka, lined up to bid Sridevi farewell. She was then accompanied by her family - husband Boney Kapoor, brothers-in-law Anil and Sanjay Kapoor, stepson Arjun Kapoor and nephew Mohit Marwah - to the last rites. Her glass casket was draped with flowers, an enlarged picture of her forming a backdrop. Tearful fans, holding flowers and photos of the star, crowded the route - a distance of 5 km - from the Lokhandwala club to the crematorium.
 
Amitabh Bachchan, with whom Sridevi co-starred in Inquilaab, Aakhree Raasta and Khuda Gawah, was photographed in his car outside the Pawan Hans crematorium. He had also made a special appearance in Sridevi's comeback film English Vinglish (2012). His wife Jaya, daughter Shweta and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai had paid their last respects in the afternoon.
 
Shah Rukh Khan, who co-starred with Sridevi in Army, and Katrina Kaif were not among the morning's mourners - they went directly to the cremation. Their December release Zero will see Sridevi in a posthumous cameo.
  

Many others attended the funeral - some, like Vidya Balan, had also been at the Lokhandwala club in the morning.
 

Prasoon Joshi, Randhir & Rajiv Kapoor arrive at Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium #Sridevipic.twitter.com/AW5toTetVW

— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2018

 

Vidya Balan, her husband Siddharth Roy Kapur, Farhan Akhtar, Dia Mirza and her husband Sahil Sangha arrive at Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium #Sridevipic.twitter.com/mHKkcwNVHM

— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2018

Anil Ambani, Anupam Kher and Arjun Rampal arrive at Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium in Mumbai #Sridevipic.twitter.com/A63lvpn0YV

— ANI (@ANI) February 28, 2018

The morning's mourners included most of the Hindi film industry. The South was represented by Chiranjeevi, Sridevi's co-star in several films, Prakash Raj and Tohfa co-star Jaya Prada. Rekha, Hema Malini and Madhuri Dixit were there; Aishwarya, Jaya and Shweta Bachchan; Deepika Padukone, Kajol, Ajay Devgn and Tanuja; Vidya Balan, Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput; Tabu, Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Amrita Singh and daughter Sara Ali Khan, who is a good friend of Sridevi's daughter Janhvi Kapoor - there were few from the film fraternity who didn't make it.

Hema Malini tweeted these beautiful words later:
 

Paid my last respects to Sridevi. The entire industry was there grieving, some on the verge of breakdown. Such was her aura & magic in films. She lay there, beautiful in a red saree, serene in death & totally at peace.

- Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) February 28, 2018

Fans of Sridevi, who considered to be India's first female superstar, were on the streets holding posters, pictures and flowers. "It's a shock to believe that she is no more. We want to pay her one last visit today and thank her for all her wonderful performances," Nandini Rao, a 32-year-old teacher, told news agency AFP.

The heavy police presence at the funeral did not deter those who loved Sridevi. "I'm an avid Sridevi fan. I loved her smiling personality. She had such a commanding presence in the film industry. Her death was so sudden and I feel terrible," 45-year-old Kuldeep Singh told AFP.

Sridevi died on Saturday in Dubai. A post-mortem report stated that she drowned due to accidentally drowning in the bathtub of the hotel she was staying in. She was brought to India on Tuesday, after a delay of three days.

Sridevi has made 300 films in a career spanning fifty years in several languages. Her best known Hindi films are Sadma, Mr India, Chaal Baaz and English Vinglish.

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Sridevi is survived by her husband Boney Kapoor and two daughters - Janhvi and Khushi.

(With inputs from AFP)