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Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood star, cremated in Hindu ceremony

Indian Bollywood actress Dimple Kapadia, left, travels in a float bearing the coffin of her husband, Rajesh Khanna, during a procession to the crematorium in Mumbai on July 19, 2012. Getty

(CBS/AP) MUMBAI, India - Bollywood stars and film fans have paid their last respects to one of India's first superstars, Rajesh Khanna, as his body was cremated in a Hindu ceremony in Mumbai.

Khanna's grandson Aarav performed the last rites Thursday in a private ceremony at Pawan Hans Crematorium after the star's body was carried from his home in a glass coffin by a truck festooned with photographs.

Pictures: Rajesh Khanna's Bollywood funeral

Thousands lined the streets to view the funeral procession, which included few Bollywood stars. Most of them arrived separately at the crematorium.

Khanna died Wednesday of undisclosed causes at age 69.

He was known as the "King of Romance" and played the lead in most of his 170 movies, earning fame that had directors booking him for his box-office draw.

Screaming fans would surround Khanna in public, and women wrote him letters in their blood. But his appeal waned as Bollywood shifted toward action films.

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