Legendary Telugu actor Akkineni Nageshwara Rao’s funeral today

Hyderabad – The Telugu film industry will take the body of Akkineni Nageshwara Rao in a procession from the AP Film Chamber of Commerce from Jubilee Hills to Annapurna Studios where the final rites of the departed actor will be performed.

The funeral procession with state honours will start at 12pm at the Annapurna Studios that Akkineni Nageshwara Rao founded 40 years ago. Though the family of ANR had earlier announced that the last rites will be performed at the Erragadda cremation grounds, the Telugu film industry urged the family to do it on the sprawling studio premises itself.

A memorial will also be constructed at the studio for the film industry to pay its respects to the departed actor. The studio has more than four floors where shootings take place on an everyday basis.

Practically, the entire film industry showed up at the Annapurna Studios where the body of ANR had been kept for the industry to be pay its homage. Among those who came were top stars including Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Jr NTR, heroine Anushka, Movie Artistes Association president Muralimohan, D Rama Naidu and others.

All shootings for the day have also been cancelled to enable everyone to participate in the funeral procession and rites. The exhibitors have also been urged to cancel shows on Thursday as a mark of respect to ANR.

Akkineni Nageshwara Rao, 90, had died on Wednesday morning ailing with cancer.