Singer KK cremated in the presence of family, friends

Playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, better known by his stage name KK, was cremated in the presence of his family and close friends from the film fraternity.

The last rites of the popular singer were conducted at Mumbai's Versova Hindu crematorium around 2pm, just a kilometer away from his home at Park Plaza apartment.

The singer, just 53, died in Kolkata on Tuesday night shortly after a performance at a concert, leaving the industry and his fans in a state of shock. An ambulance adorned with flowers and a picture of KK, carried the singer's body to the crematorium. The last rites were performed by KK's son Nakul, who looked inconsolable. The 53-year-old singer's filmmaker friend Vishal Bhardwaj with their wife Rekha, filmmaker Ashoke Pandit, Javed Akhtar, Shankar Mahadevan, Udit Narayan, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, and others attended the funeral.

Musicians like Shreya Ghoshal, Salim Merchant, Alka Yagnik, Rahul Vaidya, Javed Ali, Papon, Shantanu Moitra, and Sudesh Bhosale paid their tribute to the singer at his residence.

''It is a big loss. The entire industry is reeling under shock. He didn't have any health issues as such for the few days he had acidity problem,'' Bhattacharya told reporters outside KK's residence. On Wednesday, the West Bengal government gave a gun salute to honor the singer. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid floral tributes to him. His body was taken to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport to be transferred to his residence in Mumbai. KK, regarded as one of the top singers, had not taken formal training in music but emerged as one of the most popular singers of the late 90s and 2000s right after his debut with the Gulzar-directed 1996 film ''Maachis''.

It was singer Hariharan who encouraged KK to go to Mumbai after he heard his singing in Delhi. They later worked on Vishal Bhardwaj-composed track 'Chhod Aaye Hum Woh Galiyaan', which also featured Suresh Wadkar and Vinod Sehgal.

KK is mostly regarded for his work in Hindi but he also sang memorable film tracks in other languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Bengali. He has lent his voice to actors such as Shah Rukh Khan, Emraan Hashmi, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, R Madhavan, Vivek Oberoi, and Ranbir Kapoor among others.

Some of KK's most popular songs include 'Yaaron', 'Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai', 'Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se', 'Awarapan Banjarapan', 'Aankhon Mein Teri Ajab Si', 'Khuda Jaane', 'Zindagi Do Pal Ki' and 'Tu Jo Mila' among others.