Bengaluru: Puneeth Rajkumar suffered a heart attack today and succumbed at Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru, say reports.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai and other top leaders reached Vikram Hospital. Several film personalities expressed their condolences on social media.
Son of legendary actor and Kannada matinee idol Rajkumar, Puneeth started his career as child artiste.
He has appeared as a lead actor in commercially successful films including Appu, Abhi, Veera Kannadiga, Mourya, Aakash, Ajay, Arasu, Jackie, Hudugaru, Raajakumara and Anjani Putra.
He is one of the most famous celebrities and the highest-paid actors in the Kannada cinema. In 2012, he debuted as a television presenter on the game show Kannadada Kotyadhipati, a Kannada version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
On the acting front, he was last seen in Yuvarathnaa, directed by Santhosh Ananddram. He had recently wrapped shooting for Chethan Kumar’s James, alongside Priya Anand.
In a career spanning two decades, the actor, fondly called as Appu and Powerstar, acted in several successful films and had one of the largest fanbases in the Kannada film industry.