A hero, he was always ready to give a push to smaller artistes, appearing in cameo roles in movies like Paddehuli, Humble Politician Nograj and Lucky Man.įriday was to be the day of celebration for Sandalwood with the release of Puneeth’s brother Shivarajkumar’s bigticket flick Bhajarangi-2. Even in death, this gesture continued as he donated his eyes.
Be it running orphanages, schools, homes for the elderly, goshalas, and providing free educat ion to over 1,500 children, Puneeth was known for his philanthropy. True to his nature, he never personally used the proceeds from singing and gave it all away to charity.Ī proven multi-talented artiste, he ran the music production house under the label, PRK Audio. Over the years, he sang numerous songs for his films and also for other actors.
His song Baana Daariyalli in the movie Bhagyavantha is hummed by many even to this day. Like his father, he too was a natural, born singer.
He encouraged and nurtured new talent, prodding his directors and actors to take the unbeaten path, the one probably he could not afford to take. The production of 90-minute Gandhada Gudi is over and its release dates were to be announced on November 1.ĭescribing himself as ‘Actor-Singer-Producer - The World of Cinema then now and forever!’ in his social media profile, he had the l iking for the true and off-beat cinema, producing Kavaludaari, Maya Bazar and French Biriyani through his PRK Productions. One of the highest-paid stars of the industry, he had, at the time of passing on, almost completed shooting for James. Apart from his national award, he won six state film awards, including two for best actor in Milana and Jackie. His intense roles in Prithvi and Mythri made a mark with the critics too.
The biggest box-office collection, however, came from Rajakumara, which earned a little less than Rs 100 crore, while the spend was just one-tenth of that. But it was Jackie and Anna Bond that took him to the stratosphere of superstardom. The streak continued with his second film Abhi and he went to act in 29 more movies, many of them super hits. He made his full-fledged debut as a lead actor with Appu (2002), which was a runaway hit. As a much-loved child artiste, he worked in 14 films, including Vasantha Geetha (1980), Bhagyavantha (1981) and Chalisuva Modagalu (1982). He won the national award when he was just 10 years old for his memorable performance as Ramu in the movie Bettada Hoovu.