Puneet Rajkumar - the heartthrob of youngsters

Power star Puneet Rajkumar, the heartthrob of youngsters, made his mark on the Kannada filmdom by debuting through the movie Appu. He became popular as Appu.

Puneet Rajkumar, son of the late veteran Kannada actor Dr Rajkumar and producer Parvatamma Rajkumar, was born on 17th March 1975 in Bangalore, Karnataka. He is the youngest son and he has got two brothers named Shivraj Kumar and Raghavendra Rajkumar, who are also popular actors in Kannada Cinema. He is married to Ashwini Revanath and they have two little children called Drithi and Vanditha.

Puneet started his career in Kannada Cinema as child actor.

As a child actor, he has 12 Kannada films. Those Kannda films are Vasantha Geetha, Bhagyavantha, Hosa belaku, Chalisuva modagalu, Bhaktha prahlaada, Eradu nakshatragalu, Bettada hoovu, Yaarivanu, Shiva mechchida kannappa, Parashuram and Sanadi Appanna. He has won the National Award for the film Bettada Hoovu.

In 2002, he debuted as hero through the movie Appu Opposite Rakshita. The movie was directed by Puri Jaganath and it was super hit after completing 25 weeks. In 2003, He acted in the movie Abhi opposite Ramya. The movie was directed by Dinesh Babu and completed 175 days. In 2004, Puneet acted against Ankita (Anita) in the movie Veera Kannadiga directed by Meher Ramesh. The movie completed 100 days successfully. He also paired with Meera Jasmine in the movie Maurya directed by S Narayan. The movie completed 20 weeks.

Once again, he starred with the golden girl Ramya in Akash directed by Meher Ramesh in 2005. The movie was a mega hit movie, which celebrated Silver Jubilee by completing 42 Weeks successfully. In the same year, he paired with actress Gowri in Namma Basava directed by Veera Shankar which ran for 125 days. In 2006, his next flick Ajay directed by Meher Ramesh featured Puneet with Anuradha Mehta and it completed 100 days successfully.

In 2007, Puneet Rajkumar teamed up with Ramya and Meera Jasmine in Arasu directed by Mahesh Babu. The movie became super hit by completing 175 Days. The movie Arasu won him Best Actor Award at South India Films Association Award in 2007. Prakash directed movie Milana Featuring Puneet Rajkumar with Parvati Melton and Pooja Gandhi, has become mega hit by completing 300 days and it is still running. D Rajendra Babu directed movie Bindaas, which was released recently this year, has become super hit. The movie has already completed 125 days. In this movie, Puneet Rajkumar teamed up with Hansika Motwani.

Puneet's forthcoming film Vamshi directed by Prakash and produced under Vajreshwari Combines banner by Ms. Parvatamma Rajkumar was launched in March. This film has music by Mano Murthy. The movie features actress Nikita opposite Puneet. Puneet has also signed to play the hero in the movie, which was titled Poli earlier and changed later as Raj. The movie is directed by hat-trick director Prem. The music recording of film Raj was held on the Mahashivarathri festival day. Hari Krishna is the music director of this film. He pairs with Ileana and Shreya Saran in the movie. The film is being shot at the newest 7 wonders of the world.

Puneet Rajkumar has also signed to play the hero in the movie Lagori to be directed by Mungaru Male and Galipata fame director Yogaraj Bhat, and produced by Rockline Venkatesh. The movie will start shooting after the completion of Vamshi and Raj in 2009. Shooting of the film will take place in New Zealand. According to sources, Telugu actress Trisha is going to debut in Kannada through this movie Lagori opposite Puneet.

Puneeth is said to command nearly 1.5 Crore INR per movie which is highest in Kannada Cinema Industry. Almost all the movies of Puneeth are musical hit movies. So far he has given nine consecutive hit movies successfully run for 100+ days. Puneet has also made his appearance on small screen by acting in a serial 'Nanna Ninna Naduve' on Doordarshan in 1997.