Vishal Bharadwaj, Javed Akhtar, Bollywood bids final goodbye to KK

Bollywood singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, popularly known as KK, was cremated in Mumbai’s Versova Hindu crematorium in the presence of his family, friends and several from the film fraternity including composer Vishal Bharadwaj, Javed Akhtar, Shankar Mahadevan and Udit Narayan. 

Also read: KK’s final few hours: A concert, a crowd, and a few questions

The ‘Zara Sa’ singer died on Tuesday after performing at a concert at the Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha. He complained of chest pain and illness and was rushed to a private hospital, where the doctors declared him dead. He was 53. Initial post-mortem report showed that the Bollywood singer died due to a cardiac arrest, a senior police officer said on Wednesday, as per PTI. His mortal remains were brought to Mumbai on Wednesday. The last rites of KK were conducted at around 2pm, just a kilometre away from his home at Park Plaza apartment.

An ambulance adorned with flowers and a picture of KK, carried the singer’s body to the crematorium. The last rites were performed by the playback artiste’s son Nakul. 

Also read: Politics over KK’s death? BJP, TMC engage

The 53-year-old singer’s filmmaker friend Vishal Bhardwaj with wife Rekha, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, Javed Akhtar, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet Bhattarcharya and others attended the funeral.

Also read: ‘Hum rahe ya na rahe kal’: Watch singer KK’s last performance

Musicians like Shreya Ghoshal, Salim Merchant, Alka Yagnik, Rahul Vaidya, Javed Ali, Papon, Shantanu Moitra and Sudesh Bhosale paid their tribute to the singer at his residence.

“It is a big loss. The entire industry is reeling under shock. He didn’t have any health issue as such for the few days he had acidity problem,” Bhattarcharya told reporters outside KK’s residence.

Also read: KK’s musical journey through the years

KK delivered several hits in the late 90s and 2000s, lending his voice to actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Emraan Hashmi, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan.  He also sung in Malyalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. 

Some of KK’s most popular songs include ‘Yaaron’, ‘Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai’, ‘Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se’, ‘Awarapan Banjarapan’, ‘Aankhon Mein Teri Ajab Si’, ‘Khuda Jaane’, ‘Zindagi Do Pal Ki’ and ‘Tu Jo Mila’ among others.