Sridevi, the country's first female superstar, who drowned accidentally in a Dubai hotel bathtub on Saturday, was laid to rest on Wednesday at a cemetery in Vile Parle with state honours, after her body was flown home on Tuesday night in a private plane owned by industrialist Anil Ambani.
Early in the morning, people, celebrities and fans alike, had begun lining up along a security fence outside the private club near Sridevi's Green Acres home in Lokhandwala where the body had been laid out. A string of Mercedes and Audis ferried family members, Bollywood stars and VIPs in through another gate, with squadrons of private guards ensuring things stayed under control.
As early as 7 am, her visibly grief-stricken fans had been standing in snaking lines at Celebration Club Centre to pay their last respects. Three days of delay in the body's repatriation had not dulled their fervour. Many had been visiting her neighbourhood every day to get a last glimpse of the icon.
The veteran actor was draped in a red sari, surrounded by husband Boney Kapoor, her daughters Jahnvi and Khushi and other members of the Kapoor clan.
Before her body was taken to the cemetery, she was draped in the national flag as a police band played, and sent off with a gun salute.
The who's who of Bollywood who showed up at the included Hema Malini, Rekha, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Sushmita Sen, Farhan Akhtar, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi. Javed walked up to the crematorium where superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali were among those present.
Her cortege saw her fans, of all ages, from across the country congregate to catch one last glimpse of her. Her open hearse, covered in white flowers - said to be how she wanted it to be - took the body through the throng of mourners. "I went to the club centre and then I came here. I had also been to her house earlier," said Mohammed Shahzad, the superstar's fan from Bihar who had come all the way to be part of her final journey.
The body reached the crematorium around 4 pm where the crowd went in a frenzy upon seeing her. The police had to resort to mild force to control the crowd, as many pushed and jostled to take pictures and videos before she was laid to rest.
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