In 2002, before the release of Puneeth Rajkumar’s debut film Appu, journalist Ravi Belagere whipped up a storm with his cover-page article in his popular tabloid Hai Bangalore. Writing about the buzz around the film, he posed a big question to his readers: Can the final horse from the stables of Dr Rajkumar’s family win the race?
Thespian Rajkumar was an iconic figure in Karnataka, and his eldest son, Shivarajkumar, had become a star. However, Raghavendra Rajkumar, Shivarajkumar’s second younger brother, couldn’t establish himself as an actor despite his first few films (Nanjundi Kalyana) doing well at the box office.
“Can the Rajkumar family produce another star? That was the big question in people’s mind ahead of Appu,” recollects film critic S Shyam Prasad. “Poornima Enterprises (also called Vajreshwari Combines), run by Puneeth’s mother, Parvathamma Rajkumar, was a huge production house. The banner was set to launch Puneeth, and there was some legacy at stake for sure,” he opines.
Fans with a collage of famous characters of actor Puneeth Rajkumar outside a single screen showing the film ‘Appu’.
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN
“Acting in the film felt like shouldering a huge responsibility,” says Rakshita, the film’s female lead who made her acting debut with the movie.
Released on April 26, 2002, Appu mocked those who underestimated the project with its blockbuster run. A new star was born.
Superstar Rajinikanth, talking at the 100-day celebration event of the movie, called Puneeth a simhada mari (lion’s son), hinting at Puneeth’s ability to carry forward his father’s legacy. “It was a dream launch for a heroine,” admits Rakshita. “I am forever grateful to the film team for putting my career in the right direction.”
A remastered 4K version of Appu hit the screens on March 14, 2025, as a part of Puneeth’s 50th birth anniversary celebrations. Today, one can suppose that the excitement around the movie has more to do with the actor’s untimely demise due to cardiac arrest at 46 years old in 2021 than the film itself.
Back then, Appu was a pleasant shock for people. Puneeth’s character was anything but an ideal commercial cinema hero. He played Appu, an anti-hero who gets into gang wars in college, woos a girl without her consent, and is at constant loggerheads with the police. Yet, like any anti-hero character, Appu was loved by the masses for he fought for something right, in his case, “true love.”
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Appu was anything but a Rajkumar movie hero driven by idealism and morality. Director Puri Jagannadh, the Telugu director, made the difference. In a recent video, going down memory lane, Puri revealed how Shivarajkumar suggested his name to Rajkumar and Parvathamma for directing Appu. Once Puri was on board, he brought the Telugu-cinema sensibility into the film.
“Puri wasn’t from the Kannada film industry, so he didn’t feel pressured to cater to Rajkumar fans. He wanted the film to win, so he focused completely on targeting the young audience. He made his hero the opposite of what people expected from the launch of an actor from the Rajkumar family. The deliberate risk paid off,” says Shyam Prasad.
The film’s music was a smash hit, with the Hamsalekha-written Jolly Go and the outrageous lyrics from Upendra for the song Taliban Alla Alla being the crowd favourites. Gurukiran was at the peak of his career. Collaborating with the idiosyncratic Upendra, he had given two super-hit albums in A (1998) and Upendra (1999). But working for Appu was a different ball game, he confesses.
Fan frenzy inside a single screen showing ‘Appu’, the 2002 Kannada blockbuster that marked the debut of actor Puneeth Rajkumar.
| Photo Credit:
SUDHAKARA JAIN/THE HINDU
“To work for a film under the Poornima Enterprises banner was a big opportunity and a huge responsibility at the same time. I used to take my rhythm machines, mike, and keyboard and compose music in front of Rajkumar sir. Rahman (AR) had started the trend of composing music alone. I wanted the songs in the film to have a youthful energy,” says Gurukiran.
The composer was apprehensive of English lyrics in the songs. “I didn’t know how Rajkumar sir or Parvathamma ma’am would react. But Puneeth was the bridge between us, and he ensured our ideas got approved. I was also nervous if his family would find the music too hep,” he says about the album sold for Rs 40 lakh.
Despite being his debut as a hero, Puneeth appeared confident in stunt scenes, dialogue delivery, and dance numbers. Fans cheered him on as an all-rounder. Throughout his career, he exuded impeccable energy in his performances. Apart from his skills, the angle of the generation gap in the movie connected well with the youngsters, feels National Award-winning film critic M K Raghavendra. Puneeth’s characters also matched the Kannada sentiments, he adds. “The rebellious attitude of Appu in the movie represented the locals who felt discriminated by the state during Bengaluru’s growth as a cosmopolitan city,” he explains.
In one scene, Appu, a fan of Dr Rajkumar in the movie, talks about film stars trying to bring back the audience to theatres. Fascinatingly, Puneeth too became one such star who drew the family audience to cinema halls. Having succeeded as a child artiste, including his National Award-winning performance in Bettada Hoovu (1985), Puneeth’s rise to stardom as a commercial cinema hero was smooth.
A rare star who was loved by all, Puneeth was at an experimental stage in his career when his life was tragically cut short. He has undoubtedly left a huge void in the Kannada film industry, but memories of dear Appu will ripple in the hearts of Kannada audiences forever.
Published – March 14, 2025 01:34 pm IST
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