Mortal remains of film lyricist and poet Sirivennela Sitarama Sastry were consigned to flames at the Mahaprasthanam here on Wednesday with film personalities and thousands of fans joining in the final journey. His son lit the funeral pyre.
The renowned lyricist passed away on Tuesday due to lung cancer related complications and his body was brought to the Film Chambers for people to pay their last respects. Hundreds of artistes from the industry reached his residence and later the Film Chambers to have the final glimpse of the poet who left behind thousands of songs and millions of fans.
The final procession started from the Film Chambers to Mahaprasthanam and it was joined by all the top film personalities including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Venkatesh, Mahesh Babu, Junior NTR, Allu Arjun, Rana Daggubati, Jagapathi Babu, Rajasekhar, Allu Aravind, Nani, Trivikram Srinivas apart from Telangana Ministers T. Harish Rao and Talasani Srinivas Yadav.
Speaking to the media persons, actor Chiranjeevi described the loss as personal. He recalled that they had a conversation on the day the poet was admitted to the hospital and discussed the treatment at a Chennai hospital once he comes back. Never thought that would be the last conversation and my friend never came back, Mr. Chiranjeevi said.