Fireworks, loud cheers and whistles, confetti and large crowds — many theatres across Karnataka saw electric scenes as fans gathered early in the morning to watch late Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar's swansong movie James on Thursday, March 17. Many fans were emotional as James marks the actor's last film after he passed away due to a massive heart attack in October last year, and also since the release date of the film marks Puneeth's birthday. Large cutouts of Appu, as Puneeth was fondly known as, as well as lights, posters from his older movies, and music were arranged at various theatres in the state.
To mark the occasion, members of the Rajavamsha fan association will distribute free food to people from March 17 to March 20. They have also planned to shower flowers on the burial site of Puneeth, whom fans fondly refer to as ‘Appu’, at 9.30 am. The fans have also organised blood donation, food distribution, eye donation camps throughout the state. Huge cutouts of the late Kannada star have also been arranged outside several movie theatres across Bengaluru and other parts of the state, and fireworks were burst ahead of the first show on March 17. Many theatres will also reportedly keep seat number 17 vacant in the first shows, as Puneeth was believed to watch his movies in theatres in that seat number.
James is all set to hit as many as 4,000 screens worldwide on March 17. The film has received U/A certification by the Censor Board. The movie will be released in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam. In the trailer of the film, Puneeth is seen as a security agent Santhosh, who takes on an underworld mobster. The movie is directed by Chetan Kumar and produced by Kishore Pathikonda. It also stars Priya Anand, Sarath Kumar, Srikanth Aditya Menon, Sadhu Kokila and Anu Prabhakar, among others. Shiva Rajkumar, Puneeth’s older brother, has done the dubbing for Puneeth’s character.
When Theatres Turned Temples ❤️
— లావNya_NTR (@lavz9999) March 16, 2022
Happy Birthday Appu ❤️ Lives On
Families & Ladies Too Celebrating, What A Moments
Viresh Theatre, Bangalore.#James #PuneethRajkumar pic.twitter.com/8zZYjLYxEP
Boss craze at veeresh theater#James pic.twitter.com/kfUR59XErb
— Football GOD (@MessiHarsha) March 16, 2022
Decorated theater like temple #PuneethRajkumar
— Avinash ᵀʰᵒᵏᵏᵘᵏᵘⁿᵗᵘᵖᵒᵛᵃᵃˡᵉ (@Tarak_Avinash) March 16, 2022
Legend❤️#James
pic.twitter.com/ZMGJVYzs7x
The madness is real #JamesHistoricEuphoria #James #BoloBoloJames pic.twitter.com/2Jhvj5JRiB
— ಜೀವನ್ (@Jeevan_kg_) March 16, 2022
Recently, it was announced that Puneeth would be posthumously conferred with an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore on March 22. Puneeth’s father, Kannada icon Dr Rajkumar, was also conferred with an honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore in 1976. Dr Rajkumar was 46 years old when he received the doctorate, and after a gap of 46 years, his son — who was 46 years old when he passed away — will receive the same honour posthumously.
With inputs from agencies