Puneeth Rajkumar’s age defies the characters he plays on screen. And he depicts this in Yuvarathanaa where one of his shades in the film is that of a college student. He has completed 45 years in the industry, but for the Power Star, his career in cinemas began “only in 2001.” Fans of Puneeth will soon get to ‘feel the power’ in Yuvarathanaa, which incidentally goes with the tagline ‘Power of Youth’. Puneeth, who is associating with Santhosh Ananddram and production house Hombale Films, intends to go with content-based subjects that also have commercial elements.
About his first impression about Yuvarathnaa, he says, “I am an actor in the film and I would like to hear how much it will impress the audience. From my end, I would like to say that it is a film with a social message, and a good entertainer for 2 hours 40 minutes. It’s a lot of fun, with a good plot, which will interest today’s youth.”
The makers have managed not to get into details about Puneeth’s role, except for revealing that he will be playing a student. However, there is a hint that the Power Star will portray the role of an investigative officer in the film. “Cinema has to be experienced. The trailer says a lot, and everything will be answered as and when people come and watch it,” he says.
Since the film revolves around education and its system, we take Puneeth back to his growing years. He spent his young days mostly on the sets of films with most assuming that it is a part of his curriculum. But Puneeth begs to differ, and feels that the films he did as a child artiste cannot be considered a learning process.”I acted as a child artiste in a different era, and at that time, I never considered it as a profession. It was all about being on the sets with my parents. It was never serious. I wouldn’t say that I have grown up being on the sets of various films and I have learned so many things from them.
It is the opposite,” says Puneeth, adding that before taking up films as a career, he tried his hands at computers, even doing a three-year course. In fact, he had also thought of pursuing a career in the granite business, which was completely opposite to the film industry. “Somehow fate pulled me back into film production, and I began as a manager. I was there as a distributor at my office with my mom (Parvathamma Rajkumar) and that was a department that interested me. Acting and everything connected to it were never my passion till the year 2000, ” he says.
The actor, who shares a great rapport with the director and the production house, says, “It is always a pleasure to work with Santhosh Ananddram and Hombale Films.” Puneeth considers Santhosh more of a friend and brother so doesn’t really have much to pick. “At times, we debate about particular scenes, but that’s part of any professional discussion,” he says. Did his star status influence the kind of subjects or characters he plays in Yuvarathnaa? “A wider audience gets to watch this film. I have always said that I don’t mind doing any kind of script, provided it is watched by masses.
After all , we are doing films for them. At the end of the day, it is all about a good movie and how much people relate and connect with it,” says Puneeth. The Power Star, who enjoys mass popularity, intends to keep his calendar full for the next five years, with focus on at least 12 films. “Most of us like to explore different kind of films, and associate with different directors and production houses. Right now after Yuvarathnaa, will be James, which is currently on floors. Next, will be a film with Hombale again, followed by director Dinakar Thoogudeepa’s project made under Jayanna Production. I also have Krishna’s project as well.”