The skies opened up today as the legendary Shashi Kapoor, the romantic Hindi screen icon of the 70s and 80s, was cremated with state honours at the Santacruz Hindu crematorium in Santacruz in Mumbai.


The long-ailing actor passed away last evening at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. He was 79.


Shashi Kapoor was given a state funeral, which was held amid massive security around 12 noon in the electric crematorium. The actor-producer's body was taken to the crematorium from his Juhu home in an ambulance at 11.45 am. Hundreds of people bid the actor a tearful adieu in the pelting rain.


His three children -- sons Kunal and Karan and daughter Sanjna -- were there as were other members of the Kapoor family and scores of film personalities to say their goodbyes to the actor who straddled the worlds of commercial and art house cinema.


About a dozen policemen draped the actor's body in tricolour, which was later removed for the rituals. He was given a three-gun salute, which was followed by a minute's silence.


Hundreds of fans with umbrellas and raincoats gathered at the crematorium, undeterred by the rain and warnings of a cyclone. Celebrities such as Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan, Shyam Benegal, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Ayan Mukherji, Hansal Mehta, Nandita Das, Lara Dutta with husband Mahesh Bhupati, and Maharashtra politician Ramdas Athawale were amongst those who paid their respects to the actor.


Writer Salim Khan, who gave Shashi Kapoor the iconic one-line "Mere paas ma hai" in Deewar along with Javed Akhtar, was there as well. An emotional Bachchan, who paired with Shashi Kapoor to give hits such as "Deewaar", "Silsila" and "Kabhi Kabhie", was seen hugging the actor's family members.