BENGALURU: Popular Kannada actor, singer, and film producer Puneeth Rajkumar (46), who had died of a massive heart attack at an early age on Friday, was laid to rest at Sree Kanteerava Studios in Bengaluru on Sunday morning.
The mortal remains of the actor, which was kept at the Kanteerava Stadium for public viewing since Friday evening, was shifted from there at 4.30 am. Before the final journey of the actor started, an emotional Basavaraj Bommai, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, kissed on his forehead amid the uncontrollable grief of the family members of the actor.
The actor was taken in procession from the stadium to Sree Kanteerava Studios, where all arrangements were made for his last rites. All through the procession, thousands of his fans walked through the procession while others tried to catch the glimpse of the actor one last time standing in the balconies and terraces of building through the route.
The procession reached the studio at around 5.45 am and there was no entry for the public and only family members, friends, relatives, and VIPs were allowed. As it was a state funeral, a gun salute was given and the national flag was handed over by CM Bommai to Puneeth’s wife Ashwini.
While Ashwini and daughters Drithi and Vanditha sat watching the rituals devastated, actor brother Shivarajkumar was inconsolable. Appu was buried next to his parents, Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar and Parvathamma, at 7.38 am.
Thousands of the public had gathered outside the studio and the funeral was screened on multiple locations outside to facilitate the public to watch it. Heavy police deployment was made in and around the studio to avert any untoward incident.
Actors V Ravichandran, Upendra, Sudeep, Ganesh, Duniya Vijay, Yash, Sudharani, Shruthi, Rashmika Madnanna, and several others attended the funeral.
Actor-brother Raghavendra Rajkumar thanked the public for their cooperation during the last two days and thanked the Bengaluru City Police for working day and night since Friday. He appealed to the public not to come to the studio as there will be no entry for the next two days.
The 46-year-old actor has been the lead star in 29 films since his 2002 acting debut in 'Appu', with his last release being 'Yuvarathnaa', which came out in April earlier this year. His other notable performances include, 'Raam', 'Hudugaru', and 'Anjani Putra'.