Neeraj Vora funeral: Abhishek Bachchan, Rohit Shetty and other B-Towners pay last respects

Image Courtesy: IANS

Mumbai: Bollywood personalities such as Rohit Shetty and Abhishek Bachchan attended the cremation of actor-writer Neeraj Vora, who passed away here early this morning.

Known for films like "Satya", "Phir Hera Pheri" and "Golmaal", Vora was in coma for over a year. He died in a city hospital in the wee hours of Thursday. His last rites were performed at Santacruz Hindu Crematorium.

Several celebrities turned up to bid adieu to him at filmmaker Firoz Nadiadwala's house, where Vora had been staying since October 2016 after slipping into a coma.

Paresh Rawal, who worked with him on many films, including "Hera Pheri" and "Phir Hera Pheri", which Vora directed, was present at the funeral.

Vora was supposed to direct the third instalment of the hit "Hera Pheri" franchise and Abhishek Bachchan, who was to star in it, also attended the funeral along with Rohit Shetty, whose blockbuster "Golmaal" was written by Vora.

Others who were present include Ashutosh Gowariker, Abbas Mustan and Hussain, Darshal Zariwala, J D Majithija, Deepak Tijori, Dilip Joshi, Dharmesh Vyas, Vipul Shah, Raju Shrivastava, Sajid Nadiadwala, Vrajesh Heerji and Bunty Walia.

Vora went into a coma after suffering a heart-attack followed by a brain stroke. Nadiadwala had brought him to his home and converted a room into a make-shift Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

On Wednesday night, when his health deteriorated, Vora was taken to the hospital where he passed away.

As a writer, Vora began working in the late 1980's on TV shows, including superstar Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Circus", while his first professional acting assignment was filmmaker Ketan Mehta's "Holi", which also starred Aamir Khan and was shot as part of a student project.

He went on to star in films like "Rangeela". Which was also his debut as a Bollywood writer, "Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman", "Akele Hum Akele Tum", "Daud", "Virasat", "Mann" and "Company". His last film as an actor was Anil Kapoor-starrer "Welcome Back" in 2015.

Vora also wrote the first part of the "Hera Pheri" series (2000), directed by Priyadarshan and Shetty's "Golmaal" (2006).

His directing credits included films such as "Khiladi 420" and "Phir Hera Pheri".