Happy Birthday Puneeth Rajkumar: A look at the best Kannada movies of the actor

Puneeth Rajkumar is one of the best actors in the Kannada film industry, and also the son of a legend, Dr Rajkumar. Puneeth Rajkumar started his career as a child artist and won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for the movie ‘Bettada Hoovu’. He made his debut from the movie ‘Appu’ in 2002 and played the role of a student and it became a blockbuster hit. He is not only an actor, but also a playback singer, producer and an anchor. Puneeth Rajkumar is currently busy with the filming of ‘Yuvarathnaa’ and ‘James’. Let's take a look at the best Kannada movies in the actor’s career.

‘Appu’ was Puneeth Rajkumar’s debut film directed by Puri Jagannath and starring Rakshita, Avinash, Srinivasa Murthy and Sumithra in the lead roles. The movie became a super hit and ran for 200 days in theatres. The film was also remade in other languages like Telugu, Tamil and Bengali. The movie is about a young man who is the son of a police constable who falls in love with the police commissioner's daughter. When her father doesn’t accept their relationship, they put up a brave fight for their love.

‘Abhi’ was the second movie where Puneeth Rajkumar played the lead role. It was directed by Dinesh Babu. Ramya paired up with Puneeth for this movie which was one of the biggest commercial hits of that year, and it earned Rs 16 crore at the box office and ran for 150 days in theatres. The plot of the movie is about a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl falling in love and their parents opposing their love. This leads to fights between the boy’s and the girl’s families but both end up together.

‘Arasu’ was one of the biggest hits in the career of Puneeth Rajkumar. This one was directed by Mahesh Babu. Ramya and Meera Jasmine played the female lead roles in the film which was about a rich person who comes to India and falls in love with a girl. When he proposes the girl, he faces the challenge of having to earn Rs 5000 in a month. When he tries to earn the money, another girl helps him get a job. Later, this other girl falls in love with Puneeth’s character. However, by the end of the film, Puneeth’s character gets both the girls married to his best friends.

‘Milana’ was a romantic drama directed by Prakash, starring Parvathy Menon and Pooja Gandhi in the female lead roles along with Puneeth Rajkumar. This movie was another success in the career of Puneeth, which ran for 100 days in more the 50 theatres. The film is about a Radio Jockey who gets married and realises that his partner is in love with someone else. He then divorces her but they come back together by the end of the film.

Puneeth Rajkumar played a unique role in the movie ‘Paramathma’ which was directed by Yogaraj Bhat. The film starred Deepa Sannidhi and Aindrita Ray in the female lead roles. The movie is about a young skilled, multi-talented person who has achieved and excelled at everything in his life. He falls in love with a girl and the film shows his deep love for her even after her death.

‘Raajakumara’ was the biggest hit in the career of Puneeth Rajkumar. The film was directed by Santhosh Ananddram and starred Priya Anand in the female lead role opposite Puneeth. The movie was a family entertainer which ran for more than 100 days in theatres and was about a rich and emotional man who loses his entire family. He ends up in an old orphanage house and helps them in solving problems and also fulfils his dead father's dreams.