State honours for Sridevi's funderal, procession is among largest recorded

Sridevis final journeySeveral lakhs turned up to join a long procession among the largest in recent times to mark the final journey of actress Sridevi which started near her residence to a crematorium in Vile Parle on Wednesday afternoon A tall open truck fully decorated with white flowers her favourite colour carried her body which was first draped in the national tricolour and then loaded in a glass casket as cries of Sridevi Amar Rahe rent the air among her fansMaharashtra government accorded full state honours for the funeral of Sridevi who was conferred a Padma Shri in 2013 which included draping her body in the national tricolour elaborate arrangements by the Mumbai Police and a gun salute before the cremation Inside the truck was Sridevi lying serene with full makeup a large south Indian style vermillion and wearing a ceremonial gold and maroon coloured Kanjeevaram sari A heavy large necklace adorned her since she died a suhaagan still married giving the appearance of a resplendent devi Goddess in deep slumberHer grieving family members including husband Boney Kapoor her stepson Arjun Kapoor and brothersinlaw Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor were among those who travelled in the truck with the body The truck slowly negotiated the approximately six km passing through some of the poshest areas of Andheri and Vile Parle suburbs with a massive portrait of Sridevi visible from a distanceSeveral lakhs of people including students officegoers and others accompanied or waited on both side of the roads looked on from buildings and bungalow terraces Many climbed on signals and lamp posts for a last glimpse of their beloved heroine In terms of sheer numbers Sridevis 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 Indias first superstar Rajesh Khanna July 2012 a little less than a million mournersThe other big funerals of nonpolitical personalities in Mumbai included those of Raj Kapoor June 1988 and Vinod Khanna April 2017 The procession was led by several family members close relatives friends and even neighbours of the Green Acres society where the family lived in Lokhandwala Complex Among the prominent personalities who attended the funeral in Vile Parle were Amitabh Bachchan Shah Rukh Khan Randhir Kapoor and others who came to bid a final goodbye to SridevSridevis daughters Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor performed the final rituals before the body was consigned to the flames with husband Boney standing nearby Earlier since dawn thousands of tearyeyed fans and admirers of the late actress many carrying flowers had queued up outside the Celebration Sports Club at Lokhandwala Complex for a final darshan of their idolAfter the flowerbedecked body was brought to the club premises a steady stream of celebrities came in their vehicles and where whisked inside to pay their last respectsAmong the early callers seen were Rekha Aishwarya RaiBachchan Arbaaz Khan Madhuri DixitNene 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 Jackie Shroff Farhan Akhtar Hema Malini Jaya Bachchan John Abraham Ajay Devgn and Kajol Anupam Kher and Sulabha Arya among othersIn the past four days since her demise the Kapoor household had witnessed a steady stream of visitors including Rajinikanth Kamal Haasan Shah Rukh Khan Salman Khan and Krishna Raj Kapoor Most of the visitors on Wednesday were sporting dark sunglasses to ward off the harsh earlysummer glare carrying flowers or small bouquets embraced and consoled the bereaved family members entering from the main entrance and leaving quickly from the other side as fans tried to catch a glimpseSridevis body was flown to Mumbai from Dubai where she passed away following an accidental drowning in a bathtub in her hotel room around 11 pm on February 24 and from the airport was taken to the Kapoor residence in Green Acres Meanwhile Green Acres housing society on Wednesday cancelled Holi celebrations as a mark of respect for SrideviFor the final journey at the club and the crematorium the Mumbai Police implemented elaborate security arrangements at various venues and arranged special traffic and crowd management measuresCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever