Thousands of fans have lined the streets in the Indian city of Mumbai as the state funeral procession for Bollywood star Sridevi Kapoor, who died in Dubai on Saturday, gets under way.
Her body, which is being carried in a specially decorated truck, will travel 7 km (4.3 miles) to the cemetery.
Earlier, fans clutching roses queued outside the Celebration Sports Club in the city to bid farewell to the star.
Sridevi’s body was flown back to India on Tuesday night.
The actress, 54, died “due to accidental drowning following loss of consciousness”, police said. She was found in her hotel bathtub.
Known simply as Sridevi, the actress was considered one of the very few Indian female superstars capable of huge box-office success without the support of a male hero. She appeared in nearly 300 films over five decades.
- Sridevi obituary: From Bollywood actress to Indian icon
- India’s news coverage of Bollywood star’s death sparks anger
- Case closed’ in Bollywood star’s death
Actresses Aishwarya Rai and Kajol were among the mourners at the club in the Andheri West area of Mumbai, home to Bollywood.
“It’s a shock to believe that she is no more. We want to pay her one last visit today and thank her for all her wonderful performances,” Nandini Rao, a 32-year-old teacher, told AFP news agency.
One fan, Kuldip Singh, said he felt “terrible” after the death of his favourite actress.
“I’m an avid Sridevi fan. I loved her smiling personality. She had such a commanding presence in the Indian film industry. Her death was so sudden,” he said.
Large numbers of police have been deployed outside the star’s house, on the procession route and outside the Vile Parle Seva Samaj crematorium where the body will be taken.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image copyright AFP
It had earlier been reported that Sridevi died of cardiac arrest while at a family wedding in Dubai.
The full post-mortem report has not yet been released to the public and will be expected to explain how the original report of cardiac arrest and the listing of “accidental drowning” are linked.
The actress had been in the United Arab Emirates to attend the wedding of her nephew, Mohit Marwah.
Why was she such a huge box-office draw?
Sridevi’s life on screen began when she was just four. She started her career in the south Indian film industry, acting in movies in all four major languages of the region.
She was cast in her first adult role at the age of 13 – that of a woman avenging her lover’s death.
By 1978, she graduated to an extraordinary career in Bollywood, where although she knew neither the language nor the culture of the Hindi film industry, she became one of its biggest stars.
She starred in classics such as Mr India, Chandni, ChaalBaaz and Sadma, becoming one of the only actresses to build a successful career in both south Indian and Bollywood films.
Sridevi was rumoured to be the highest paid in her field and her star power and charisma persisted for years to come.
She decided to take a break from the film industry after her marriage to producer Boney Kapoor and the release of Judaai in 1997. She made a comeback in 2012, starring in English Vinglish.
In 2013, the Indian government awarded her the Padma Shri – the country’s fourth-highest civilian honour.
