Puneet Rajkumar
From GGpedia Kannada Films Database
| Puneet Rajkumar | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Lohith March 17, 1975 Bangalore |
| Other name(s) | Appu Power Star |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1977 - 1989 2002 - present |
| Spouse(s) | Ashwini |
| Children | Dhriti Vandita |
| Related To | Dr Rajkumar (father) Shiv Rajkumar (brother) Vijay Raghavendra (cousin) Prakash (cousin) |
Puneet Rajkumar is a Kannada actor. The youngest son of Kannada legend Dr Rajkumar, Puneet made his mark as a child artist. He won a national award for his performance in Bettada Hoovu. He re-entered the Kannada film industry as lead in the 2002 film Appu and has been considered as the top draw in Kannada due to his consistent box office hits.
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Early Life
Puneet was born on March 17, 1975 to Dr Rajkumar and Parvatamma in Bangalore. His elder brothers Shiv Rajkumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar are both actors. Puneet acted as a child artist and later had no wish to become a lead actor. He owned a granite business and worked for his family's distribution and production house before debuting as lead in Appu.
Career
Puneet started his acting career as a child artist in the film Sanaadi Appanna in 1977 (credited as Lohit). He was two. His performance was appreciated highly and he went on to work in more films as child artist, mostly in father Dr Raj's films like Vasanta Geeta, Bhagyavantaru and Chalisuva Modagalu. While his performance attracted good reviews for every film, his best achievement was when he won the first National Best Child Artist award for Kannada for his performance in the 1985 film Bettada Hoovu. Puneet continued to act as a child artist up until 1989. He made the transition to lead actor in 2002 with the much publicized home banner film Appu.
Appu was directed by the ace Telugu director Puri Jagannath. Puneet played the titular role opposite a debutant Rakshita. The film was a massive hit, and the Power Star was born. Puneet followed the success of Appu with the Dinesh Baboo directed Abhi. Abhi starred a debutant Ramya and it was the first of the three successful films in which Ramya would act with Puneet. His next couple of releases, Veera Kannadiga and Maurya both released in 2004 didn't do as well as expected. Puneet bounced back with the 2005 film Akash with Ramya. The film was a love story and was directed by the debutant director Mahesh Babu. The film was a major commercial and critical success.
Puneet did Namma Basava and his first remake film Ajay next, and both did not live up to expectations. His last film with Ramya, Arasu also directed by Mahesh Babu was not only a success commercially, but also fetched Puneet his first Filmfare Award for Best Actor. His next, Milana broke all box office records, and earned very good reviews for his performance. In 2008, Puneet appeared in two films, Bindaas and Vamshi. Bindaas was an average affair and so was Vamshi. Vamshi made news because it was the first film where Puneet played a gangster resorting to a long for settling his score. Puneet will be next seen in the highly anticipated directorial venture of Prem, Raaj the Showman. He was supposed to film Lagori with the director Yograj Bhat, but the project has been shelved. He is also tentatively scheduled to act in two remakes - of Ready and Athadu.
Personal Life
Puneet is married to Ashwini. The couple have two daughters, Dhriti and Vandita. Puneet is rumored to be the highest paid actor in Kannada.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Director | Also Starring | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Sanaadi Appanna | Vijay | Dr Rajkumar, Jayaprada | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1980 | Vasanta Geeta | Dorai-Bhagwan | Dr Rajkumar, Gayathri | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1981 | Bhagyavanta | Dorai-Bhagwan | Dr Rajkumar, Aarti | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1982 | Hosa Belaku | Dorai-Bhagwan | Dr Rajkumar, Sarita | Released | As a child artiste | |
| Chalisuva Modagalu | Sangeetam Shrinivas Rao | Dr Rajkumar, Sarita | Released | As a child artiste | ||
| 1983 | Bhakta Prahlaada | Vijay | Dr Rajkumar, Sarita | Released | As a child artiste | |
| Eradu Nakshatragalu | Sangeetam Shrinivas Rao | Dr Rajkumar, Ambika | Released | As a child artiste | ||
| 1984 | Yaarivanu? | Dorai-Bhagwan | Dr Rajkumar, Srinath | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1985 | Bettada Hoovu | N Laxminarayan | Arvind, Padma Vasanti | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1988 | Shiva Mecchida Kannappa | Vijay | Shiv Rajkumar, Sarala | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 1989 | Parashurama | V Somashekhar | Dr Rajkumar, Mahalaxmi | Released | As a child artiste | |
| 2002 | Appu | Puri Jagannath | Rakshita | Released | ||
| 2003 | Abhi | Dinesh Baboo | Ramya | Released | ||
| 2004 | Veera Kannadiga | Meher Ramesh | Ankita | Released | ||
| Maurya | S Narayan | Meera Jasmine | Released | |||
| 2005 | Akash | Mahesh Babu | Ramya | Released | ||
| Namma Basava | Veer Shankar | Gowri Munjal | Released | |||
| 2006 | Ajay | Meher Ramesh | Anuradha Mehta | Released | ||
| 2007 | Arasu | Mahesh Babu | Ramya, Meera Jasmine | Released | ||
| Milana | Prakash | Parvati Menon | Released | |||
| 2008 | Bindaas | D Rajendra Babu | Hansika Motwani | Released | ||
| Vamshi | Prakash | Nikita Thukral | Released | |||
| 2009 | Raaj | Prem | Nisha Kothari | Released | ||
| Raam | K Maadesh | Priyamani | Released | |||
| Prithvi | Jacob Verghese | Parvati Menon | Filming | |||
| Jackie | Soori | Announced |
Media
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