THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The mortal remains of actor Murali were cremated at Aruvikkara, a village in the outskirts of the capital city, on Friday evening with full state honours.
Deepu, son of Murali’s brother, lit the funeral pyre. Murali’s body was taken to his ancestral village Kudavattoor, near Kottarakkara, in the morning where hundreds of his neighbours and childhood friends paid their last respects.
The who’s who of political, social and cultural spheres along with thousands of common people paid their tributes to Murali when his body was laid at the University Senate hall later in the day.
Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, Opposition leader Oommen Chandy, Speaker K Radhakrishnan, Ministers P K Gurudasan, M A Baby, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, P K Sreemathi and K P Rajendran, KPCC chief Ramesh Chennithala and BJP state president P K Krishnadas were among those who offered their tributes.
Poets ONV Kurup and Sugathakumari, Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, actors Mammootty, Madhu, Nedumudi Venu, Sreenivasan, Innocent, Manoj K Jayan and writer Perumbadavam Sreedharan were also there to pay their last respects.
K S Ravikumar, who was the director of Murali’s last film, flew down from Chennai to pay his tribute. Speaker Radhakrishnan, Ministers M A Baby, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and K P Rajendran attended the funeral at Aruvikkara also.
Murali’s pyre was arranged at the picturesque plot he had bought near the Aruvikkara dam a few years back.