CHITRADURGA: Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar will be posthumously conferred the Basavashree award 2021 by the Bruhanmutt. Murugha Mutt seer Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru on Thursday made an announcement in this regard.
The award honours people for services to society in their respective fields by following the principles of Lord Basaveshwar. It is presented by Chitradurga Bruhanmutt since 1997. The award includes a Rs 5 lakh cash and a memento.
PT Usha (2009), Malala Yousufzai (2014), P Sainath (2016), Dr K Kasturirangan (2020) are some to win the award in recent times.
Fondly called Appu, Puneeth, who was born in Chennai on March 17, 1975, was an actor, playback singer, television presenter, and producer. Puneeth, son of Matinee Idol Rajkumar, was a lead actor in 29 films and as a child, and appeared in many films. His performances in Vasantha Geetha (1980), Bhagyavantha (1981), Chalisuva Modagalu (1982), Eradu Nakshatragalu (1983), Bhakta Prahaladha, Yarivanu and Bettada Hoovu (1985) had earned him accolades. He won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for his role of Ramu in Bettada Hoovu. He also won the Karnataka State Award for Best Child artist for Chalisuva Modagalu and Eradu Nakshatragalu.
His second innings in the silver screen started in 2002 with the Kannada movie Appu, which was received well by Kannadigas all over the globe. Popularly called as 'Powerstar', he acted in commercially hit movies Abhi (2003), Veera Kannadiga (2004), Mourya (2004), Aakash (2005), Ajay (2006), Arasu (2007), Milana (2007), Vamshi (2008), Raam (2009), Jackie (2010), Hudugaru (2011), Ranavikrama (2015), Raajakumara (2017), and Anjani Putra (2017).
The seer said that the award will be presented to Puneeth's wife Ashwini and children at their residence on November 10. Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru said that the untimely death of the renowned actor is a great loss to Kannada and Karnataka and wished that his family gets strength from Basaveshwara and other Sharanas to face this loss. Secretary of SJM Educational Institutions A J Paramashivaiah, member of KEB Shanmukhappa and others were present.