Shirke, who was chairman of the Film Makers Combine, had been suffering from cancer. The end came at 3 am, his son Sangram said.

Shirke, who produced 10 films in Marathi and Gujarati, is survived by wife, son Sangram, daughter-in-law and their two children.

The funeral was held at the Sion crematorium. Among those who paid homage were Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra ministers Pramod Navalkar and Shabbir Sheikh and personalities from film industry including Sunil Dutt and Shakti Samanta.