Demise: Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar, 46, dies of cardiac arrest
New Delhi: Kannada superstar Puneeth Rajkumar suffered a massive cardiac arrest and passed away in Bengaluru on Friday morning.
The 46-years-old’s manager Satish confirmed the death, saying the film star suffered a major cardiac arrest while working out in a gym on Friday morning. He was rushed to Vikram Hospital where he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) before the demise.
“Puneeth Rajkumar was brought to the emergency department at 11:40 am. He was non-responsive,” the hospital stated.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S. Bommai and several actors from the industry, including Puneeth’s elder brother and actor Shivarajkumar, and actors Gurudutt and Ravichandran, thronged the hospital premises after learning about the incident.
The superstar’s sudden demise shocked the entire South Indian film industry. The actor had promoted director Shivanna’s new film Bhajarangi 2 this morning.
Last seen in the 2021 multilingual film Yuvarathnaa by Santhosh Ananddram, Puneeth recently wrapped shooting for James and was scheduled to shoot for Pawan Kumar’s Dvitva from November 1.
Security has been tightened near his Bengaluru house and in Vikram hospital following the demise.
Puneeth Rajkumar was the youngest son of Kannada superstars Rajkumar and Parvathamma. He started his career in the film industry as a child artist and won a National Film Award for Best Child Artist for the 1985 film Bettada Hoovo.
Although he worked in 29 films over 20 years, the 2002 film Appu made him a household name. Abhi, Veera Kannadiga, Ajay, Arasu, Raam, Hudugaru, and Anjani Putra were some of his famous films.
(Avya Mathur)
