Bengaluru, October 31 (IANS) | Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s last rites were performed at Kanteerava Studio in the presence of his family members, friends and ruling and opposition leaders of all political parties in Bengaluru. The last rites were performed according to the traditions of the Adiga community of Hinduism. His body was taken from Kanteerva Stadium to Kanteerva Studio at around 5 am. On the way, fans who gathered on the side of the road gave him a tearful farewell. One million people paid their last respects to the young superstar.
Kannada cinema superstar, Puneeth Rajkumar, son of Kannada film legend Dr Rajkumar, passed away on Friday (October 29) due to cardiac arrest. Before the last rites, the Karnataka government gave him state honors as per protocol. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai handed over the tricolor flag to his wife Ashwini and two daughters. Opposition leader D.K. Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and all cabinet ministers, all bigwigs of Kannada film industry attended the function organized on Sunday morning. The family members worship Puneet’s body, which was kept in a decorated palanquin before the last rites. Public ‘darshan’ was allowed for fans throughout the night to facilitate the final viewing as the crowd had been gathering since late Friday.
The bigwigs of the Telugu film industry, Chiranjeevi, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Jr NTR, Venkatesh, Srikanth came to Bengaluru to pay their last respects to Puneeth Rajkumar.Prabhudheva and Sharath Kumar of Mill Film Industry arrived to pay their last respects. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Puneet’s untimely demise. Prime Minister Modi had put a picture of Puneet’s family in his message. The body of Kannada film actor Puneeth Rajkumar was placed near the grave of his father, the legendary Kannada cinema actor Dr Rajkumar. Parvathamma, the mother of Puneeth Rajkumar, is also buried in the same premises. This decision has been taken as per the wishes of his family. Puneet donated his eyes. Dr Bhujanga Shetty, Director Narayan Nethralaya, recalled the family’s commitment as he immediately got a call from Puneet’s elder brother Raghavendra Rajkumar to complete the eye donation process. Puneeth Rajkumar donated 50 lakh rupees to the Karnataka government during the Kovid crisis. Puneet used to run 16 old age homes and 19 cowsheds. Through the organization ‘Shaktidham’, he has guided the future of thousands of girl students. But, Puneet never talked about his philanthropic activities. Puneet was one of those people who contracted the Covid infection at a time when people were still hesitant to get vaccinated.
After entering the film industry as a child, Puneet has acted in 13 films as a child artist. As a child artist, he won the National Award in 1985 for his performance in the film ‘Bettada Hoovu’. He won the Best Child Actor award for his performances in the films ‘Chalisuva Modagalu’ and ‘Eradu Kanasu’. He made his debut as a complete hero with the film ‘Appu’ in 2002. Since then, he had acted in 29 films. His latest release was ‘Yuvratna’ which hit the theaters in April earlier this year. His last film is ‘James’. His documentary, shot underwater by filmmaker Amoghavarsha of ‘Wild Karnataka’ fame, was all set to release on November 1.
He has won two State Awards and five Filmfare Awards for Best Actor. He started the production house of Puneet Rajkumar Films in 2019 and produced films of Danish Sait and others. He was a successful television host for the Kannada version of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. Puneet was named as the power star by the fans. Puneet had decided to spend a whole month with his family. He used to sing and dance with his family on special occasions.
(Disclaimer: This news has been published directly from news agency’s Syndicate feed. It has not been edited by AnyTV News team.)