Puneeth sir was the most easily accessible superstar: Manikanth Kadri

Bengaluru: Renowned music director Manikanth Kadri reminisced about his association with Puneeth Rajkumar and said that the late superstar was the most approachable movie star he had come across.

“Puneeth Rajkumar was a superstar who was very easy to reach,” renowned music director Manikanth Kadri said paying tribute to the untimely passing of the superstar while talking to Udayani.com on Friday.

Manikanth Kadri is famous for his music direction in multiple languages including Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam cinema. He remembered his association with Puneeth Rajkumar for the song “Janak Janak” in the movie “Run Antony.”  Puneeth had offered to sing the song and had given full liberty to the crew. “Don’t hesitate to employ new experiments that can make films win,” Kadri recalled Puneet as saying.

“Through PRK productions, Puneeth sir gave chance to new talents. He was the biggest hope of Kannada cinema. Puneeth sir was a personification of hope. Losing him had given a big shock to me personally,” Manikanth said.

“I was also involved in making music for Dr. Rajkumar’s Learning App. During the unveiling of the app, he (Puneeth Rajkumar) took me aside and fixed a meeting for next week. He expressed his desire to non-cinematic songs under PRK productions. ‘I will sing and act in them’ he said,” Manikanth fondly recollected his interactions with the ‘Power Star.’

A team from Mangaluru wanted to invite Puneeth for a song release, but couldn’t reach him. “They contacted me to approach him. I called him once. Without a fuss, he immediately fixed a time for meeting with the team and also released the song,” he recalled the simplicity of the superstar.

Manikanth Kadri had composed songs for Puneeth Rajkumar’s movie “Prithvi.” In this film, Puneeth was seen playing the role of a young IAS officer. The film had the noble message of eradicating the illegal mining and corruption in the Ballari district.

(In cooperation with: Avinash Kamath)