Puneeth Rajkumar forged his own path in the Kannada film industry. Today marks his birth anniversary and fans across the globe are remebering his legacy in the industry. In a 2016 interview with Silvers Screen India, the late actor, who is the son of actor-politician Dr Rajkumar and actor Shiva Rajkumar, expressed his displeasure with special treatment on set.

Puneeth Rajkumar felt guilty on being offered special treatment in the industry

Puneeth, Rajkumar's youngest son, was given special consideration when he chose acting as a career. Instead of making him happy, he told the publication that the special treatment "irked him" because he knew it was because of his father's status. He said, "There was this palpable feeling of being apart from the rest. It wasn’t even because of me. It was because of who I was related to. I was too young to make sense of it all, but I remember feeling guilty."

Puneeth on trying to match his father's achievements

During the same interview, Puneeth Rajkumar shared that he always felt left behind and thought he had to catch up to his father's achievements for most of his life. Puneeth, "When he was my age, he’d done a hundred films. He’s left behind a legacy that is hard to emulate. My brothers and sisters are all, in their own way, exceptional people. They’ve all been part of things, done things and accomplished things by the time I was a teenager. Even now, they’re all leagues ahead of me. I always feel like I’m behind somehow."

Puneeth was Dr Rajkumar and Parvathamma's fifth and youngest child. His father was a matinee idol in Kannada films and later became a politician. Puneeth married Ashwini Revnath in 1999 and they have two daughters together. He was cast in Premada Kanike when he was six months old, in 1976. Puri Jagannadh's film Appu, which he appeared in in 2002, marked his debut. His last film, Gandhada Gudi, was released posthumously in 2022.