Amitabh Bachchan's mother cremated

Mumbai (ANI): The last rites of actor Amitabh Bachchan"s mother, Teji Bachchan, were performed at the Juhu Cremation Ground here on Saturday. The funeral pyre was lit by Amitabh Bachchan. Several dignitaries,including former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, actor Vivek Oberoi, industrialist Anil Ambani, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and film director Pehlaj Nihlani were in attendance.

The funeral procession started at 10 a.m. from Bachchans Juhu bungalow Pratiksha and reached the Ruia Park Cremation ground after nearly an hour. Teji Bachchan passed away on Friday after a prolonged illness. Ninety three year old Teji had been undergoing treatment at the Lilavati Hospital for almost a year.

On November 7, She was shifted to the intensive care unit of the hospital. Her condition turned critical thereafter. A Sikh hailing from Karachi, she was the second wife of the late Hindi poet, Harivansh Rai Bachchan. She is survived by her two sons-Amitabh and Ajitabh.

Teji was an amateur actor as well as a singer. Harivansh Rai, himself a renowned Hindi poet, died in 2003 at the age of 96. She married Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1941,five years after the death of his first wife. She was also close to the Nehru-Gandhi family in the late 1950s.