Tragedy has struck Kannada film world and cinema icon Rajkumar family a week before Diwali. Puneeth Rajkumar, the youngest in the family and a superstar in Kannada cinema, died aged 46. He suffered a heart attack in the gym and was rushed to a private hospital immediately. He was given an emergency treatment in the ICU and the doctors declared him dead after sometime.
Thespian Rajkumar’s family is known as the first family of Kannada cinema. All his three sons are into acting. Among them, the eldest, Shivaraj Kumar, and the youngest, Puneeth Rajkumar, are superstars with a huge fan following across Karnataka.
Rajkumar died in 2006 and his film producer wife Parvathamma died a few years ago. An affable person, Puneeth had commanded a big market charging crores for each movie.
Puneeth started as a child artist in his father’s movie Premada Kanike in 1976. He was less than a year old then. After that, for the next 13 years, he acted as a child artist in over two dozen movies. He got the National Film Award for his acting in Bettada Hoovu in 1985. He was just 10 years old then. In his early teens, he appeared in Shiva Mecchida Kannappa (1988) as the young Kannappa with his elder brother, Shiva.
Read: Puneeth Rajkumar Death LIVE Updates: Kannada Film Star Passes Away After Suffering Cardiac Arrest
In April 2002, Puneeth made his film debut as a leading man in the masala film, Appu with actress, Rakshita also making her film debut. He played a college boy in the box office success and critics praised his dancing skills. He also sang the song ‘Taliban Alla Alla’ for the film. In 2007, in his production Arasu, directed by Mahesh Babu, Puneeth played an expatriate businessman who renounces his wealth for the woman he loves. For his performance, he received his first Filmfare Best Actor award.
He delivered back-to-back hits in 2010. The first was Jacob Varghese’s political thriller Prithvi, in which he played a bureaucrat in Ballari district who fights corruption. His next release was the action film Jackie, directed by Duniya Soori, which was a commercial success.
In 2017, he appeared in Santhosh Ananddram ‘s Raajakumara, which broke all-records at the box office and became the most highest-grossing Kannada-language film of all time, beating previous record of Mungaru Male. Later the record was taken up by the movie K.G.F: Chapter 1.
Puneeth, just like his father, is one of very few actors that have excelled in professional singing, too. He sang alone in Appu, and sang a duet on “Jothe Jotheyali” from Vamshi. He sang a fast number in Jackie and sang in his brother Shiva’s films Lava Kusha and Mylari.
In 2012, Puneeth hosted the first season of Kannadada Kotyadhipati, modelled on the Hindi show Kaun Banega Crorepati. He was also the host of Colors Kannada’s reality show, Family Power.
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