“I’ve lost a dear friend,” a visibly upset Aamir Khan said at the funeral of his long time publicist Rajendra Rao. Also present for the last rites of Rao, which took place at the Versova Hindu Shamsham Ghat on Saturday, were other actors who Rao had worked closely with, including Ajay Devgan and Pooja Bhatt.

As soon as he got the news, Aamir rushed to Rao’s Yari Road residence and remained there throughout. Later he lent a shoulder for his old friend’s final journey. As the pyre was lit, both Aamir and Ajay became very emotional and were seen consoling each other.

According to the postmortem Rao, 52, had suffered a massive heart attack.