Akbar fondly remembers his big brother Feroz Khan

Feroz Khan's distraught youngest brother, Akbar Khan, says they had been preparing themselves for Feroz's death. "For three months now, we've been watching him slowly sink. We prayed to either relieve him from pain, or life."

The entire family was gathered in Bangalore for Feroz Khan's funeral which took place on Monday at 5 pm. The funeral procession left at around 2 pm from Feroz's farm house after the afternoon prayers.

"The entire family was here towards his end literally feeding him out of our hands," says the grief-stricken sibling. "And he enjoyed his glass of wine in the evenings with us till the end. He was a very loving friend and bhai."

Said Akbar, "We buried him next to our mother. It's unfortunate that we couldn't bring him back to Mumbai for so many of his friends and well-wishers to see him for the last time. But his last wish was to lie eternally next to our mother in our home town near Bangalore. And we had to fulfill that wish."

Restraining his grief, the youngest Khan sibling says, "He was much loved by all his friends and colleagues. Contrary to his flamboyant image, he was a very gentle sensitive soul. Even in his frail condition towards the end, he'd get up from his chair to greet each one of us in the family, no matter how old or young. He was a friend first, then a father-figure."

"He was fearless even when faced with death," says Akbar. "He was the apple of our mother's eyes. All of us five brothers and two sisters looked up to him. We've lost a father-figure. He's relieved of his pain. But he was fearless till the end. He didn't even fear death. He'd always be with us."