Puneeth Rajkumar was more than Kannada cinema royalty. A foodie, cyclist, singer too – ThePrint
In late 1975, Kannada film star Rajkumar was capturing for Premada Kanike, which had just a few scenes with an toddler. The scene saved getting delayed as a result of the infant was sick, and it simply wasn’t figuring out with the opposite infants. In the meantime, Rajkumar’s spouse Parvathamma used to go to the set day-after-day with their toddler son.
“He (Rajkumar) requested me if he can use Puneeth for the shoot,” Parvathamma instructed Ramesh Arvind on Kannada speak present Weekend With Ramesh in 2014. The mom reluctantly agreed, and six-month-old Puneeth made his first look in motion pictures that lasted a couple of minutes.
Born on 17 March 1975, Puneeth acted in 14 movies as a toddler artist. He bagged the Nationwide Movie Award for his function of Ramu, who provides up finding out to help his household, in Bettada Hoovu (1985). After Parashuram (1989), the teenage actor took a 13-year sabbatical, returning with the vastly well-liked movie Appu in 2002. The title caught and Puneeth is remembered to at the present time as Appu. The actor died of a sudden coronary heart assault in October 2021 on the age of 46 to a lot outpouring of grief throughout the nation.
The Rajkumars
The Rajkumars are Kannada cinema royalty. Puneeth was the youngest of the three sons of Dr Rajkumar, a Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee and Parvathamma, a number one producer who died in 2017.
His brothers, Shiva Rajkumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar, and a number of other different kin are a part of the Kannada business too — as actors or producers. The Rajkumars are to Sandalwood what the Kapoors are to Bollywood.
Earlier than returning to work within the movie business, Puneeth tried his hand at a number of different companies, together with granite mining in Chamarajanagar in Karnataka.
“I attempted many issues and wasted cash,” Puneeth mentioned on Weekend With Ramesh. “But when there may be anybody who made me accountable, it was my mom,” he added.
Fingers in lots of pies
Puneeth was recognized to cycle all the best way to Mysuru from Bengaluru — about 143 km — and was a typical face in a number of low-key cultural and neighborhood occasions. His exercise movies had been a rage however made individuals surprise if his extreme train regime brought on his cardiac arrest.
His final movie, James (2022), needed to be accomplished utilizing the voice of his brother Shivarajkumar. It grossed round Rs 150 crore on the field workplace as followers thronged the theatres to see their beloved Appu on display screen once more.
He additionally featured in the 2022 documentary Gandhada Gudi and showcased the wealthy wildlife and ecology of Karnataka.
In 2012, Puneeth printed his father’s biography Dr. Rajkumar: The Individual Behind The Persona. He gave the royalty he acquired from it to charity — largely to colleges and houses within the border areas of Karnataka. The actor, like his father, pledged to donate his eyes after loss of life.
“He carried his chequebook when he travelled for his shoots and donated to any faculties or establishments that had been in dire want,” writes Sharanu Hullur, Puneeth’s biographer in Neene Rajakumara, which was printed in February 2022.
Puneeth had additionally based PRK Productions to encourage younger expertise and inventive content material, though many of the motion pictures he starred in adopted a typical mass-entertainer script.
“He was hesitant about getting his biography [published] as a result of he believed he had performed nothing as commendable in comparison with others, together with his dad and mom,” Hullur recalled.
‘Finish of star wars’
An avid foodie, Puneeth travelled far and large for shoots, health, or to check out new meals. Half a dozen hoteliers in Karnataka say the actor would relish every morsel. There are numerous movies of the actor expressing his love for meals.
“Each time he travelled on this route, for capturing or something, he would come right here or ask that meals be taken to his farm,” says Lokesh, a fan of Appu and proprietor of a preferred eatery in Bidadi on the outskirts of Bengaluru. He fondly remembers how Appu used to name him ‘Ramachari’
His lodge’s partitions are lined with footage of Appu. Lokesh wells up just a little when he reveals a video of Appu wishing him on his birthday.
Managers of Bengaluru’s Maratha Bhavan even positioned Puneeth’s favorite dish, Kaima Unde (meatballs) on his grave. Donne-Biryani in east Bengaluru put out a ‘purchase one-get one’ supply with posters of the actor when he died.
Puneeth additionally starred in an episode with Kripal, a preferred meals blogger. Few know that the Kannada actor had sung at the age of 7 — Kaanadante Maayavadanu, Namma Shiva, Kailsa Serikondanu (My lord went lacking and reached Kailasa).
A private loss
Puneeth’s loss of life shocked the nation. The actor was within the midst of an intense exercise session when he suffered a cardiac arrest. The information unfold quick, with tons of and hundreds crowding up close to the hospital the place he was admitted regardless of Covid restrictions, wailing and crying. Their fears got here true just a few hours later.
The actor’s loss of life was taken as a private loss in Karnataka.
Posters of Appu had been plastered on something and all the things. Even right this moment it is tough to search out an auto-rickshaw with out Puneeth’s footage, and no Kannada film begins with out paying their tributes to the late actor. Statues and busts of Puneeth are extra in demand in comparison with others, in line with native sculptors in Bengaluru.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)
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