iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The sudden death of Kannada Film superstar Puneeth Rajkumar has sent a shock wave across the Indian film industry and Kannada movie fans across the globe.
Puneeth Rajkumar, who was fondly called by his fans as “Appu”, was just 46 at the time of death. The incident happened in Bengaluru following a cardiac arrest on Friday 29 October.
He was admitted to the Vikram Hospital at around 11:40 am this morning, following reports of a heart attack from an ECG performed by a family doctor. At the time of his arrival in the emergency, Puneeth was non-responsive and was in a state of asystole.
Upon his arrival at the Vikram hospital, he was shifted to the ICU and was given immediate cardiac life support for resuscitation. Puneeth was being treated under the supervision of Dr Ranganath Nayak. In a statement put out by the Vikram hospital, it was said that despite medical experts’ putting in prolonged, advanced, and aggressive measures, Puneeth passed away exactly at 2.30 pm.
In his condolence tweet, the PM wrote, “A cruel twist of fate has snatched away from us a prolific and talented actor, Puneeth Rajkumar. This was no age to go. The coming generations will remember him fondly for his works and wonderful personality. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti. [sic]”
In a span of forty years, Rajkumar, played the lead role in over 29 films. Notably, Puneeth’s first onscreen appearance was at the tender age of six months in a thriller drama Premada Kanike.
He received his first Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor in 1982 for Chalisuva Modagalu. His career as a child was also packed with a lot of success as again in 1983, he won the state film award for Best Child Actor for the movie Eradu Nakshatragalu.
Puneeth’s biggest break as a child actor was in Bettadda Hoovu. In 2002, the actor made his debut as a lead in Appu post which he was also popularly called by the same name colloquially.
Puneeth has been star cast in major films like Abhi, Veera Kannadiga, Maurya, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, etc. After appearing in films like Okkadu, Ajay, Namma Basava, Puneeth was called ‘Powerstar of Sandalwood’ by his fans. The list of his best films includes Bhakta Prahlada, Prithvi, Jackie, Paramathma, and Rajkumar. Late actor Puneeth is also the recipient of several awards and accolades both regionally and nationally.
[Photo courtesy: @narendramodi]