As the iconic Indian actor, Sridevi, began her final journey to the other side, fans and well-wishers made their way to catch a last glimpse of the late actor. Celebrities also arrived at the venue to pay their last respects.
Since dawn, hundreds of teary-eyed fans and admirers of the late actor queued up outside the Celebration Sports Club at Lokhandwala Complex for a final viewing of their idol.
After the flower-bedecked body was brought to the club premises, a steady stream of celebrities started pouring in. Among them were Rekha, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Arbaaz Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Farah Khan, Nitin Mukesh, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vidya Balan, Sushmita Sen, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Leela Bhandsali, Farhan Akhtar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, John Abraham, Sulabha Arya, Ajay Devgn and Kajol.
Sridevi’s absolutely sudden demise left all of Bollywood shellshocked. Stars attended the condolence meet to pay their final respects to the pan-Indian megastar of Indian cinema at Celebration Sports Club, Mumbai.
Her mortal remains arrived in Mumbai three days after her death. Celebrities like Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Kajol and Ajoy Devgn, Jaya Bachchan, Shweta Bachchan, Subhash Ghai, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Tabu and Akshaye Khanna were at the venue to comfort the the surviving Kapoor Family: Jhanvi, Khushi, and Boney Kapoor.
Sridevi’s remains were then taken to the Vile Parle cremation grounds in the afternoon, where the cremation ceremony took place. Fans thronged the streets outside to get a last glimpse of the first female superstar of Bollywood.
Around 100 policemen were on duty around Sridevi's Lokhandwala building since Tuesday night and around 250 police personnel were deployed today to provide security for the late Sridevi’s last rites.
Sridevi was cremated with state honours which included draping her body in the tricolour and a gun salute before the cremation.
According to IANS Sridevi's funeral is estimated to have attracted the highest number of mourners, ranking on par with the previous biggest funeral processions of the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi (July 1980: around a million mourners), and India's first superstar Rajesh Khanna (July 2012: a little less than a million mourners).
Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan, the multi-lingual actor passed away at the age of 54 on 24 February in Dubai.
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