Bollywood stars turn out to mourn Kapoor

Bollywood stars turn out in force to pay their respects to actor Shammi Kapoor, the heart-throb actor of the 1950s and 1960s who died at the weekend.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, a family friend, helped carry Kapoor's flower-covered body from his home in the upmarket Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai to a waiting ambulance for the short trip to a nearby crematorium.

Also in attendance were Aamir Khan and Priyanka Chopra, two of the Hindi-language film industry's leading lights, as well as top politicians and other prominent figures, including the industrialist Anil Ambani.

Shammi's younger brother, Shashi, who is also in frail health, was among the mourners, an AFP photographer said.

The Kapoors are Bollywood's foremost acting dynasty. Four generations of the family have acted, produced or directed in Bollywood from brothers Raj, Shammi and Shashi's father Prithviraj to Raj's son's Randhir and Rishi.

Randhir's daughter Kareena is now an established A-lister while Rishi's son Ranbir is one of the industry's top new male leads.

Shammi Kapoor died on Sunday morning at a private south Mumbai hospital after suffering renal failure. He was 79 and had been in poor health for a number of years.

The actor shot to fame in romantic hits such as Tumsa Nahin Dekha (You're One of a Kind, 1957), Dil Deke Dekho (Give Your Heart and See, 1959) and Junglee (Wild, 1961).

His energetic dancing style, which transformed Bollywood's innocent song and dance routines into something more raunchy, was often compared to the US singer Elvis Presley, earning him the tag of a "rebel".

He later became an avid promoter of the Internet and was the founder-chairman of the Internet Users Community of India.