Appu Puneeth Rajkumar Began Acting At Just 6-Months-Old

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The South film industry and fans have been left devastated after sudden death of Puneeth Rajkumar. The 46-year-old star was taken to a Bengaluru hospital after a heart attack; some hours later, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tweeted: "I am deeply shocked that Kannada celebrity Shri Puneeth Rajkumar died of a heart attack. The death of Kannadigar's favourite actor, Appu, has caused enormous loss to Kannada and Karnataka and I pray that God will have mercy on his soul and give his fans the power to endure this pain."

Puneeth Rajkumar was the son of veteran Kannada actor Rajkumar and enjoyed a massive fan following not just in Karnataka but also in the other south Indian states. Known as Appu among fans, Puneeth Rajkumar was also a singer, producer and television presenter. Puneeth, who was named Lohit at birth, was born to Rajkumar and Parvathamma Rajkumar in Chennai in 1975.

Puneeth Rajkumar's tryst with cinema began when he was just six-months-old. At this tender age, Puneeth was cast in the 1976 thriller Premada Kanike. Following this, he continued acting as a child artist and even went on to win the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor for the 1982 film Chalisuva Modagalu.

Having proved that he was born to act, Puneeth Rajkumar made his debut as a hero with Appu in 2002 and the character became synonymous with the actor, who was then called Appu by fans.

With continued successes, Puneeth Rajkumar went on to enjoy hits year after year. In 2017, he broke box-office records with the film Raajakumara
Puneeth Rajkumar is the youngest son of legendary Kannada cinema star Dr. Rajkumar and Smt. Parvatamma. He has acted in 12 films as a child artist. He has also won the National Award for the best child actor for the film "Bettada Hoovu". He once again entered the Kannada film industry as a hero in the movie Appu.

He is married to Ashwini Revanath, and they have two children. The older one is called Drithi and the younger one is called Vanditha.

Puneeth's performance as a young kid in Bettada hoovu, Bhagyavanta, Vasantha Geetha, Chalisuva Modagalu, Yeradu Nakshatragalu were much appreciated. He has also won "National award " as a child actor for Bettada Huvu.

Puneeth is said to command nearly 4 to 6 Crore INR per movie. Highest by any Kannada actor. Puneeth is the only actor so far who has managed to give 10 plus consecutive hit movies that ran successfully for 100+ days.

Puneet had given a small role to Susheel Sukhraj as an actor (a waitor who is a Shahrukh Khan fan and is quite a funny character) in his small serial called 'Nanna Ninna Naduve' on Doordarshan in 1997. He also gave a small role to Susheel Sukhraj in Hrudaya Hrudaya as his brother, Shivrajkumar's friend.

Puneeth's movie Milana was a blockbuster hit & did run successfully for one year in most multiplexes in Bengaluru. Apart from this, Puneeth also starred in "Vamshi ", which again was a major box office hit.

Puneeth Rajkumar made his first on-screen appearance when he was just six months old. Kannada director V. Somashekar cast him in his thriller film Premada Kanike. Next, at the age of one, he became part of a Kannada-language musical film, Sanaadi Appanna. The film is based on Krishnamoorthy Puranikthe novel Kuniyitu Hejje Naliyithu Gejje, and featured Puneeth, Jaya Prada, Ashok, Balakrishna, R. Sampath, Thoogudeepa Srinivas, Papamma, and Baby Madhavi. In 1980, Puneeth stared in Dorai-Bhagavan directed romantic drama film Vasantha Geetha, where he played the character of Shyam. He gained the opportunity to star with his father and legendary Sandalwood actor Rajkumar in the action thriller Yarivanu. Puneeth gained huge popularity as a child artist after appearing in the drama film Bettada Hoovu, directed by N. Lakshminarayan and based on Shirley L. Aroras novel What then, Raman?. He also received a National Film Award for Best Child Artist for portraying the character of Ramu in the film.

Acting (as a lead actor)

Puneeth Rajkumar made his acting debut as lead actor in 2002 with the romantic action comedy film, Appu. Puneeth played the character of Appu opposite Rakshita in Puri Jagannadh directed action film. His performance in the film was highly appreciated by the critics as well as the audience. The film was a huge hit at the box office and proved to be a breakthrough for Puneeths career.

In 2003, Puneeth Rajkumar appeared onscreen as Abhi in the romantic comedy Abhi, a film written and directed by Dinesh Babu. The following year, he became part of Meher Ramesh directed drama film Veera Kannadiga. He was paired with debutante Anitha and showcased his dancing and stunt skills in the film. Although the film was badly trolled for its storyline, it was a huge hit on the Box Office in 2004. Thereafter, he appeared in a number of commercially successful films like Aakash, Ajay, Milana, Jackie, and many more.

Singer

Puneeth Rajkumar joined the field of singing in 2002. He sang the song Taliban Alla Alla for the film Appu. This song was written by Gurukiran and directed by Puri Jagannadh. The duo of Puneeth Rajkumar and Gurukiran emerged as a magical singing duo and delivered a number of hit songs together which includes Mama Mama Maja Madu, Jothe Jotheyali, Mylapura Mylari, and Kaanadanthe Maayavadanu.

Television Presenter

Puneeth Rajkumar, in 2012, debuted on Indian television as a host for the first season of Kannadada Kotyadhipati. The show was modelled on the British show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Next, he hosted the Colors Kannadas reality show, Family Power.

Puneeth Rajkumar was once the brand ambassador of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Royal Challengers Bangalore.

He was associated with a number of popular brands like Karnataka Milk Federation€™s Nandini Milk products, LED Bulb Project, 7 Up (PepsiCo), F-Square, Dixcy Scott, Malabar Gold, and Manappuram.