Bidding adieu to an icon
He announced plans to construct a memorial for Deva at the burial site and promised to take forward his father’s legacy. Srikanth Deva, while speaking to the media, expressed deep gratitude to chief minister, the state administration, well-wishers from film and political circles and villagers there.
Ranipet : The mortal remains of music composer ‘Thenisai Thendral’ Deva were laid to rest with full state honours, accompanied by a 72-gun salute on Sunday at his farmhouse in Sakkaramallur, near Arcot in Ranipet district. As part of the ceremonial state honours accorded by Tamil Nadu govt, police personnel fired a 72-gun salute (24 rounds each across three cycles) as the coffin carrying the music legend was lowered into the burial vault at his farm estate. Thousands of grief-stricken mourners, prominent political leaders, govt officials, and film fraternity members paid their final respects to the iconic composer during the occasion. Deva’s son and music composer Srikanth Deva led the final rites, accompanied by grieving family members. Cooperation minister V Gandhiraj, Ranipet district collector N Priya Ravichandran, and senior revenue and police officials oversaw the state honours and paid floral tributes.
A funeral procession was taken out through the village, allowing people to offer their final tributes before the funeral. Following public homage in Chennai, where chief minister C Joseph Vijay, political leaders, and film personalities paid their respects, the mortal remains were brought to his native village, Pazhaya Mangadu, around 3pm on Sunday.
More than 2,000 people including local villagers, and fans from across Tamil Nadu converged at Sakkaramallur to bid farewell to the music composer. AIADMK MLAs – K C Veeramani and S M Sukumar alongside DMK leaders, including former minister R Gandhi and former MLAs P Karthikeyan and J L Eswarappan attended the funeral. They sang some of the hit songs of Deva during the funeral.