India bids final adieu to first female superstar: Sridevi cremated with state honours

Mumbai: Sridevi - Indian cinema’s first female superstar was cremated on Wednesday, 4 days after she breathed her last in Dubai at around 11 pm.

Wrapped in the tri-colour Padma Shri Sridevi’s mortal remains were accorded full State Honours at the Celebration Sports Club Garden No 5, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri West this morning.

The mortal remains were brought to Celebration Sports Club from her Lokhandwala residence at around 9.30 am on Wednesday for condolences and people to pay their last respects.

The mortal remains of the legendary actress, who won millions of hearts across the globe by her spellbinding performances in her 5 decade long acting career, was covered with a maroon Kanjeevaram saree and kept in a glass casket.

From Deepika Padukone to Hema Malini, Aishwarya Rai to Jaya Bachchan, Arbaaz Khan to Vidya Balan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali to Raveena Tandon, a number of film personalities paid their last respects to Sridevi at the Celebration Sports Club this morning.

Aditya Roy Kapoor, Siddharth Roy kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Siddhanth Kapoor, Apoorva Lakhia, John Abraham, David Dhawan, Rekha, Mukesh Chabbra, Niel Nitin Mukesh, Nitin Mukesh, Shamita Shetty, Deepti Naval, Raj Kumar Rao and Patralekha, Omung Kumar, Ramesh Sippy, Sonali Bendre, Angad, Soha Kunal, Vaibhavi Merchant, Prem Chopra, Malaika Arora Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Suresh Oberoi, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Farida Jalal, Shahid Kapoor, Mira Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Rekha, Rakesh Roshan, Siddharth Malhotra, Sikhander Kher, Fardeen Khan and Anu Malik were also paid their last respects.

The final journey commenced at around 2 pm for Vile Parle Seva Samaj Crematorium and Hindu Cemetery.

Family members - Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Kapoor, Mohit Marwah, husband Boney Kapoor and others were seen on board the truck carrying Sridevi’s mortal remains to the crematorium.

Thousands of fans had gathered on the streets to bid adieu to their favourite superstar.

Shah Rukh Khan, Prasoon Joshi, Randhir Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Dia Mirza, Farhan Akhtar, Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra and several others paid their last respects to Sridevi at the Vile Parle crematorium.

Husband Boney Kapoor lit the funeral pyre on which Sridevi’s mortal remains were laid.

The untimely demise of the beloved actress had plunged the entire nation and millions of her fans worldwide in a state of shock and disbelief. 

Her body was brought to India by a private aircraft owned by industrialist Anil Ambani. The jet arrived at around 9:30 pm on Tuesday at the Mumbai International Airport. Her body was then taken to her husband Boney Kapoor's Lokhandwala residence.

The veteran actress breathed her last on Saturday at around 11 pm.  She died of ''drowning in the bathtub'' of room number 2201 of Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel after ''loss of consciousness'', the Dubai Police stated on Monday following the completion of post-mortem autopsy conducted on the late actress.

The case was then referred to the Dubai Public Prosecution for further investigation. On Tuesday, the Prosecution completed the probe and approved the release of the body.

Sridevi was in Ras Al Khaimah in UAE last week, along with husband Boney Kapoor, daughter Khushi and other relatives to attend nephew Mohit Marwah’s wedding ceremony.

She had posted pictures of her family from the ceremony just a few days before she passed away.

Born in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu on August 13, 1963, Sridevi began her career at the age of four in the devotional film Thunaivan in which she played Lord Murugan.

Besides Tamil, Sridevi worked in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi productions. She went on to become one of the most formidable actresses of the 1980s and 1990s in Hindi cinema. From a child artiste, she became Indian cinema’s first female superstar.

She is remembered for her spellbinding performances in some of the iconic Bollywood films like Mr. India, Nagina, Lamhe, Sadma, ChalBaaz, Chandni, Khuda Gawah, among many others in different Indian languages. Sridevi, who made a comeback to Bollywood in 2012 with English Vinglish after a long break of 15 years, was last seen in Mom in 2017. She shot for a cameo appearance in October for Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Zero which is expected to release in December this year.