Choreographer and director Prabhu Deva on Saturday paid last respects to late actor Puneeth Rajkumar at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore.
Son of legendary actor Rajkumar, Puneeth left for his heavenly abode at the age of 46 following a cardiac arrest. He was admitted to Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru, after experiencing chest pain, where he breathed his last.
His mortal remains were shifted to Sree Kanteerava Stadium for public viewing, where a large number of fans gathered to get one last view of their favourite actor. A heavy police force has also been deployed at the stadium to control the crowd.
Choreographer and director Prabhu Deva also reached the stadium to pay his last respects to the 'Appu' actor.
Speaking to the media, the 48-year-old star expressed grief over the untimely demise of his late friend. "It is a very sad day. I have no words to explain this loss, I am blank right now."
Prabhu Deva told that his parents were also close to the late actor and even they are unable to digest this sad news.
The mortal remains of the Kannada star were shifted to Bangalore's Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Friday evening for public viewing, prior to his final rites which will be done with state honours, soon after his daughter arrives from the US.
Bangalore Commissioner of Police, Kamal Pant at the stadium, on Saturday said that on basis of the decision taken by Puneeth's family, the next stage of security arrangements will be made. His family will take a call on when the final rites will be performed. Probably, the last rites will be done today itself.
The demise of Puneeth took the entire country by shock and several popular actors from Bollywood and South film industry including Dhanush, Mahesh Babu, Jr NTR, Ram Charan, Abhishek Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, among others, have expressed their condolences.
Apart from that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other noted politicians including Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai, Rahul Gandhi, Prakash Javdekar and Nirmala Sitharaman also mourned his death.
Son of matinee idol Rajkumar, who was also lovingly called 'Appu' and 'Power Star' by his fans, Puneeth was associated with the silver screen since he was a child.
The 46-year-old actor has been the lead star in 29 films since his 2002 acting debut in 'Appu', with his last release being 'Yuvarathnaa', which came out in April earlier this year. His other notable performances include, 'Raam', 'Hudugaru', and 'Anjani Putra'.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor