Puneeth Rajkumar, who died at the age of 46 at Bengaluru's Vikram Hospital on Friday, will be cremated with state honours on Saturday, Manjunatha Prasad, the Principal Secretary to Karnataka Chief Minister announced on Friday, reports news agency ANI. His cremation will take place at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Politicians across all parties have reached late Kannada film star Puneeth Rajkumar’s residence in Sadashivnagar, Bengaluru, to pay their last respects to the departed soul. Former Prime Minister HD Devegowda and Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were spotted arriving at his house.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took to Twitter to mourn the untimely death of the Kannada film star. “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,” the PM tweeted. The youngest son of Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar, Puneeth was referred to as ‘Power Star’ and ‘Appu’ by fans. Puneeth started his acting career as a child artist along with his father. He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role of Ramu in Bettada Hoovu (1985). Puneeth also won the Karnataka State Award for Best Child Artist for his performances in Chalisuva Modagalu and Yeradu Nakshatragalu.
Puneeth starred in over 29 Kannada films. He had appeared as a lead actor in a number of commercially successful films including Appu (2002), Abhi (2003), Veera Kannadiga (2004), Mourya (2004), Aakash (2005), Ajay (2006), Arasu (2007), Milana (2007), Vamshi (2008), Raam (2009), Jackie (2010), Hudugaru (2011), Raajakumara (2017), and Anjani Putra (2017).