A lot has been said and done about Sridevi’s sudden demise. From blaming alcohol to even accusing her husband Boney Kapoor, speculations have been making the rounds since the day she passed away. But the fact is that we lost our first female superstar and that is irreversible.

Sari by @manishmalhotra05 and ✨ by @gemsjewelspalace

A post shared by Sridevi Kapoor (@sridevi.kapoor) on Oct 22, 2017 at 1:24am PDT

Her funeral that took place yesterday was just another proof of how loved she was. Thousands of her fans gathered along with the who’s who of the Bollywood industry to bid their final goodbye. 

The cinema icon was given a state funeral with her body wrapped in the tricolor and a gun salute by the Mumbai Police.

State honours at Sridevi’s funeral, thousands mourn her https://t.co/3tMba1UIAl via @etimes pic.twitter.com/eeihjtEhsq

— Times of India (@timesofindia) February 28, 2018

Post the funeral, Boney Kapoor penned down a heart-wrenching letter to express his feelings on losing Sridevi. He also thanked the media, Sridevi’s fans for their constant support and also mentioned Arjun Kapoor and Anshula Kapoor for being the family’s ‘pillars of strength’ during this tough time. 

Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor (2nd L) looks on as he stands next to the body of actress #Sridevi carried in a truck during her funeral procession in Mumbai, India, February 28, 2018. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas pic.twitter.com/VTlf3merdw

— VOA DEEWA (@voadeewa) February 28, 2018

He also made a request for letting the family grieve privately and ended the letter with: “Our lives will never be the same again.”

The statement was posted by him via Sridevi’s twitter account. Read the full letter here:

pic.twitter.com/VNgw7FY9rF

— SRIDEVI BONEY KAPOOR (@SrideviBKapoor) February 28, 2018

Before Boney’s letter, the family of the deceased actor also issued another emotional statement:

pic.twitter.com/NXAgta3vMS

— Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) February 28, 2018

Both the letters have left all her fans in tears and although we would never be able to feel exactly what the family is going through, we have to say that without Sridevi, Bollywood too, will never be the same. 

Sridevi is a very popular actress and not just in Bollywood but down South too. She has delivered some impressive performances over the years. From films like ‘Chandni’ to ‘Sadma’, Sridevi has won accolades for her work. The actress has also been a part of several Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam movies. In a career spanning three decades, Sridevi took a sabbatical and returned to Bollywood with ‘English Vinglish’. In her remarkable career, Sridevi has also turned down several films and here’s a list of films which she rejected.

Darr
In 1993, Sridevi was offered a role opposite Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Darr’ which she rejected. Apparently, the makers of ‘Darr’ wanted Sridevi to play the leading role, however, she reportedly turned down the role due to the repetition of similar kinds of roles in her career. Eventually, the role went to Juhi Chawla and the film is considered to be one of the biggest hits of her career.

Beta
The ’90s was a golden era wherein Sridevi ruled the silver screen with her beauty and grace. She was offered to play the role of the leading lady in Indra Kumar’s film, ‘Beta’ but she opted out of the film because she felt that she was already doing several films with Anil Kapoor. Later the role was given to Madhuri Dixit who aced it and impressed the critics and the audience with her stellar performance. ‘Beta’ was one of the biggest hits of the year when it had released and Madhuri had even bagged a Filmfare award in the Best Actress category for her performance in the film.

Mohabbatein
Musical romantic multi-starrer film ‘Mohabbatein’ which had actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in it was a blockbuster film when it released in 2000. According to reports Sridevi was offered a role in the film but she rejected it and later the makers of the film opted to discard the character in the film. The character was reportedly said to be Amitabh’s love-interest in the film but due to her rejection, the role was scrapped out.

Baahubali
One of the most successful films in the history of Indian films, ‘Baahubali’, was apparently offered to Sridevi. Speculations were rife that Sridevi was approached for the role which was eventually played by Ramya Krishnan. However, the actress decided to decline the offer as she signed another South project that had caught her interest. We are sure that Sridevi would have added her touch to the epic film which was helmed by S. S. Rajamouli.

Ajooba
Filmmaker Shashi Kapoor was very keen on casting Sridevi opposite Amitabh Bachchan in the film ‘Ajooba’ but the budget of the film was also at its peak by bringing in two superstars on the same set. Also, this was a time when Sridevi was rejecting a lot of roles opposite Amitabh for not getting an equal amount of screen presence. Not really happy with her role, she let the movie go, which then featured Dimple Kapadia.

Baghban
Ravi Chopra’s ‘Baghban’ which released in 2003 was a hit movie whose star cast even included Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan and Sridevi too was offered a good role but the actress decided to reject it as she didn’t want a film like ‘Baghban’ to mark her comeback on the silver screen.

Several lakhs turned up to join a long procession — among the largest in recent times — to mark the final journey of actress Sridevi which started near her residence to a crematorium in Vile Parle on Wednesday afternoon

Sridevi’s final journey

Several lakhs turned up to join a long procession — among the largest in recent times — to mark the final journey of actress Sridevi which started near her residence to a crematorium in Vile Parle on Wednesday afternoon. A tall, open truck, fully decorated with white flowers — her favourite colour — carried her body which was first draped in the national tricolour and then loaded in a glass casket, as cries of ‘Sridevi Amar Rahe’ rent the air among her fans.

Maharashtra government accorded full state honours for the funeral of Sridevi — who was conferred a Padma Shri in 2013, which included draping her body in the national tricolour, elaborate arrangements by the Mumbai Police and a gun salute before the cremation. Inside the truck was Sridevi lying serene with full make-up, a large south Indian style vermillion and wearing a ceremonial gold and maroon coloured Kanjeevaram sari. A heavy, large necklace adorned her since she died a ‘suhaagan’ (still married), giving the appearance of a resplendent ‘devi’ (Goddess) in deep slumber.

Her grieving family members including husband Boney Kapoor, her step-son Arjun Kapoor and brothers-in-law Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor were among those who travelled in the truck with the body. The truck slowly negotiated the approximately six km passing through some of the poshest areas of Andheri and Vile Parle suburbs, with a massive portrait of Sridevi visible from a distance.

Several lakhs of people including students, office-goers and others accompanied or waited on both side of the roads, looked on from buildings and bungalow terraces. Many climbed on signals and lamp posts for a last glimpse of their beloved heroine. In terms of sheer numbers, Sridevi’s funeral is estimated to have attracted the highest number of mourners, ranking on par with the previous biggest funeral processions of the legendary singer Mohammed Rafi (July 1980: around a million mourners), and India’s first superstar Rajesh Khanna (July 2012: a little less than a million mourners).

The other big funerals of non-political personalities in Mumbai included those of Raj Kapoor (June 1988) and Vinod Khanna (April 2017). The procession was led by several family members, close relatives, friends and even neighbours of the Green Acres society where the family lived in Lokhandwala Complex. Among the prominent personalities who attended the funeral in Vile Parle were Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Randhir Kapoor and others who came to bid a final goodbye to Sridev

Sridevi’s daughters Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor performed the final rituals before the body was consigned to the flames with husband Boney standing nearby. Earlier, since dawn, thousands of teary-eyed fans and admirers of the late actress, many carrying flowers, had queued up outside the Celebration Sports Club at Lokhandwala Complex for a final ‘darshan’ of their idol.

After the flower-bedecked body was brought to the club premises a steady stream of celebrities came in their vehicles and where whisked inside to pay their last respects.

Among the early callers seen were Rekha, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Arbaaz Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Farah Khan, Nitin Mukesh, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Vidya Balan, Sushmita Sen, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Madhur Bhandarkar, Deepika Padukone, Sanjay Leela Bhandsali, Jackie Shroff, Farhan Akhtar, Hema Malini, Jaya Bachchan, John Abraham, Ajay Devgn and Kajol, Anupam Kher and Sulabha Arya, among others.

In the past four days since her demise, the Kapoor household had witnessed a steady stream of visitors including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Krishna Raj Kapoor. Most of the visitors on Wednesday were sporting dark sunglasses to ward off the harsh early-summer glare, carrying flowers or small bouquets, embraced and consoled the bereaved family members, entering from the main entrance and leaving quickly from the other side as fans tried to catch a glimpse.

Sridevi’s body was flown to Mumbai from Dubai where she passed away following an accidental drowning in a bathtub in her hotel room around 11 pm on February 24, and from the airport was taken to the Kapoor residence in Green Acres. Meanwhile, Green Acres housing society on Wednesday cancelled Holi celebrations as a mark of respect for Sridevi.

For the final journey, at the club and the crematorium, the Mumbai Police implemented elaborate security arrangements at various venues and arranged special traffic and crowd management measures.

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