Funeral procession of legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra has begun

The funeral procession of legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra has begun. The veteran director died of multi organ failure on Sunday (October 22). 

The procession has left Yash Raj Studios, where the late director's body had been kept overnight for people to pay their last respects. The cremation will be held in Mumbai's Pawan Hans crematorium.

Mr Chopra was admitted to Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital on October 13 with dengue fever. On October 17, he was reported to have improved and was expected to be discharged soon.

Mr Chopra will be cremated at south Mumbai's Pawan Hans crematorium today.

"He passed away due to dengue and multiple organ failure today evening. He was in the ICU," Lilavati Hospital spokesperson Dr Sudhir told PTI on Sunday.

An official statement from Yash Raj Films, the production company founded by Mr Chopra, said: It is with deep regret that we announce the sad demise of Mr. Yash Chopra, who breathed his last at around 5:30 PM today. Details of his last rites will be communicated to all a little later.

Mr Chopra's 22nd film, Jab Tak Hai Jaan starring Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, will release this Diwali. 

Yash Chopra directed films like Deewar, Silsila, Kabhi Kabhie and Lamhe in his five-decade long career. His production company, Yash Raj Films, produced films such as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Bunty Aur Babli and Mohabbatein.

In an interview with Shah Rukh Khan on his 80th birthday, Mr Chopra had announced his retirement from directing, saying that Jab Tak Hai Jaan would be his last film.

Mr Chopra is survived by his wife Pamela and two sons Aditya and Uday.

Actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Dilip Kumar and Anil Kapoor, all directed by Mr Chopra, arrived at Lilavati Hospital as news of the director's death broke.

The sudden demise of veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra left superstar Shah Rukh Khan bereaved and he described it as a personal loss, and says he will always keep a part of the filmmaker in his heart.

"Whenever my loved ones depart, I feel a part of me extinguishes itself with them. Will there come a day that I will no longer have a bit of myself to let go of? And then the thought follows ... that every time they have taken some of me with them onto their last journey, I have found a fragment of them left inside me too.

"I will always have some love to give and I will always be both emptied and replenished by the loved ones I lose. I keep u with me Yashji and I miss u too Yashji ... lots," Shah Rukh posted on Twitter.