Star’s pan-Indian appeal shows as fans converge from Chennai to Indore

MUMBAI: Sridevi’s pan-Indian appeal reflected in the turnout for the funeral, with mourners arriving from various cities, including Chennai and

Indore

.

Hundreds of them queued up with bouquets to pay their respects.

Outside the crematorium in suburban Mumbai on Wednesday, large groups of women

fans

exchanged notes on her films as well as the circumstances of her death. “My favourite film is Chaalbaaz where she played two opposite characters in a double role so marvellously. I have seen the similar movie Seeta Aur Geeta by Hema Malini, and Sridevi is not a shred less talented at all. Both these Tamilian actresses have made us proud,” said Radha K S who lives in nearby Nehru Nagar.

In

Lokhandwala Complex

, admirers from other cities spread mats and bottles of water and squatted along the wall of her residence, Green Acres, and a nearby highrise. “Only English. No Hindi,” said K Saktivel of Chennai explaining his origin to this reporter. “Generations of my family have watched Sridevi’s films. My parents remember her as a child artiste in regional films alongside N T Rama Rao, M G Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan while I enjoyed watching her in Moondram Pirai, the Tamil version of Sadma. The way she passed is so shocking. I couldn’t contain my emotions and had to come down to Mumbai.” Saktivel was joined by three other friends on the trip.

Television reporters interviewed two friends who rode a bike all the way from Indore without informing their family that they were headed for Mumbai for Sridevi’s funeral. “They would never have let us come,” the rider said sheepishly, knowing that his TV interview would have left him exposed.