A tearful farewell was given to famous director and former union minister Dasari Narayana Rao at his farmhouse on the city outskirts, with the last rites performed with full state honours this evening.
The cremation was performed near the grave of his wife Dasari Padma in the director's farmhouse in Tollkatta under Moinabad mandal of Ranga Reddy district.
Amidst thousands of mourners from the Telugu film industry and political parties, Rao's eldest son Taraka Prabhu lit the funeral pyre. Rao's fans, studio workers and junior artistes were seen wiping their tears.
Earlier, the mortal remains of Rao were placed on a bedecked truck that was brought in a massive procession from the film chambers office in Jubilee Hills to the funeral site. Following Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's orders to the police department to give a full-gun salute to Rao, the officials made all necessary arrangements, and the final journey of the director began with the official police parade at his house in Jubilee Hills, and paused at the Film Chamber hall to enable people to pay their last respects. Thousands of people from the film industry and political leaders joined his final journey and paid tributes.
The entire Telugu film industry came to a halt to mourn Rao's death. As a tribute, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce cancelled all the shootings on Wednesday and instructed both single screens and multiplexes to stop screening of movies.