MYSURU: Recognising the contribution of late actor Puneeth Rajkumar in the field of cinema and philanthropy, the University of Mysore announced that the Kannada actor, who died due to a cardiac arrest in October last year, will be conferred a posthumous honorary doctorate.
Fans are elated following the announcement ahead of the ‘Power Star’s’ birthday on March 17. Interestingly, the same university also conferred the honoris causa degree on his father almost 45 years ago in 1976, making both father and son recipient of the highest degree from a state university.
The then chancellor and governor Dr Umashankar Dikshit and vice-chancellor Dr DV Urs awarded Puneeth’s father the doctorate for his contribution to Kannada language, land, art and culture, and music during a convocation held in an open-air theatre.
The university will be conferring the honoris causa on his son, posthumously, during the 102nd convocation in the presence of distinguished gathering. Vice-chancellor, University of Mysore, G Hemantha Kumar said that his name was sent to the governor’s office and was finalised along with two others. “We have already conveyed this to his widow Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar and a formal invitation has been extended. She has agreed to attend the convocation,” he said.
According to varsity officials, when they met the family members of Puneeth Rajkumar, to inform about this and invite them to convocation, they revealed that he was offered honorary doctorate by many universities when he was alive, but had silently rejected saying that he had not reached that level to receive an honorary doctorate.