Sridevi's death: Hawa Hawai fans huddle before Judaai

On Monday, while several residents from the city visited the residential building of Sridevi to pay their respects to the superstar, there were a number of fans who came from outside the city in the hope to catch a last glimpse of their favourite actress. These included fans from Pune, Indore and Delhi.

Nirmal Singh and his wife Gurmeet Kaur came with their three daughters from Pune. "I may have seen her movie Nahin some 25 times. Each time it plays on TV, I watch it fully," said Singh.

"She was a very good actor. My personal favourite was Judaai and the recent Mom," said Gurmeet Kaur. "If the body comes tomorrow, I will take a day off from work to watch the funeral procession on TV with my family," said Singh, who works in a canteen.

While Singh planned to rush back home, owing to his youngest daughter of two months, the Sharmas don't mind waiting another day. "I want to go to the cremation. She was one of the best actresses. I really like her work," said Presha Sharma, a HR executive who is in the city with her husband, Pankaj Sharma. "We wanted to come yesterday but the flight tickets were too expensive. Since leave from work is not a problem, we will only return to Delhi after we see her mortal remains and the final journey," said the Sharmas.

They even plan to visit the Bhagya Bungalow in Versova and Anil Kapoor's residence in Juhu as word spread of the mortal remains arriving only by midnight. "We will take our chances. We may get to see her daughters or other family members," said the Sharmas.

Toshi Shaikh, a 9-year-old child artist arrived with his father. "My friend who has a place here took us to a few places that belong to Sridevi and her family. My son was working with her in a movie. She told him that he is cute and that he would make a good actor with good amount of work at hand," said Mohammed Rafique Shaikh, Toshi's father.

News brings nostalgia to city’s migrants

The news of Sridevi’s death was a sad connect with home for many migrant workers living in the city. Yenumalaia Koandar, originally from Tamil Nadu, has been in the city for the past 35 years and works as a conservancy worker with the BMC.

“We had come yesterday (Sunday) too. We camped here till early morning thinking she will be coming anytime,” said Koandar. 

“We will come again in the evening and if the body is taken for the funeral in the morning, we will come that time too and will go till the crematorium,” said Konda Swamy, another fan who has been living in the city for nearly 40 years and works with the BMC as well.

Jyoti Mohan, who came to the city 18 years ago, plans to take a day off from work so that she doesn’t miss the final journey. “We will make it a point to see her when she comes. I have always been her fan. She was great as a child artiste and later as a senior artiste too,” she said.