Crowds continue to throng Bengaluru’s Kanteerava Stadium to pay their last respects to beloved actor Puneeth Rajkumar, who passed away at 46 on Friday, October 29, following a massive heart attack. Stories of Appu, as he was called, being down-to-earth, kind and supportive to not just those from the industry but to everyone else, have been pouring in. Recounting her experiences of working with him, actor Parvathy Thiruvothu told TNM that she met him for the first time when she was around 18 years of age for a photoshoot of the movie they went to star in — Milana. Milana went on to become a big hit and later, Parvathy and Puneeth worked on another film, Prithvi.
“Met him when I was 19-18 I think. The first time I met him was at a photo shoot for the movie Milana. He just came in and I was so new to the industry. Suddenly this superstar came in and everyone was saying ‘Appu has come’, ‘Appu Anna (Appu brother) has come’. All I can remember now is how amazingly gentle, warm and comfortable he made me for the photo shoot,” she said.
On her experience of working with him for Milana, she said, “I had a great time working with him in Milana. He used to laugh a lot, he used to find ways of making things light. We shot in Switzerland where it was really cold or the beach, in which we did another movie Prithvi,” she said.
She added that they shared the easy chemistry both on and offscreen. “He would help me sometimes (with Kannada) but mostly we shared the most easy chemistry onscreen and offscreen. He was punctual, he always was very aware of holding space for everyone on set. Would genuinely check in on others. He made it very easy for me to perform those songs and dances as well, just cracking jokes and checking in,” she said.
“Just such a sweet guy. Making everything so uncomplicated around him. I don’t know how a person could be consistently so warm, so full of love, so soft. I for some reason felt like sharing some songs from our films on Instagram. I thought it would be so wonderful to work with him again, just four days ago. What love the Rajkumar family gets from the audience — the love, respect, admiration and the feeling that they are ours, I understand that sentiment whenever I meet any one of them. With Puneeth I've worked in two films and throughout I have seen how graceful a man can be,” she added.
And according to Parvathy, what set Puneeth apart from many others was that there was a lightness about him. “He carries his craft, his fame, everything so so so lightly!” she said.