Amitabh Bachchan on Puneeth Rajkumar's death: Shocking, can't put grief in words
Mumbai, Oct 30: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has paid a tribute to Kannada star Puneeth Rajkumar, saying that his sudden death following a heart attack was shocking.
Puneeth, the 46-year-old powerstar known for films such as Appu , "Veera Kannadiga" and Maurya", died in a hospital in Bengaluru following a massive heart attack.
He was the son of matinee idol the late Rajkumar and Parvathamma.
Bachchan took to his blog post late Friday evening and wrote he was saddened by two deaths of close ones -- Puneeth and that of a family friend.
"There have been two deaths of the near and dear since the morning and there is a grief that cannot be put in words. One of them, the news has been shocking.
"Puneet Rajkumar, the younger son of the legendary icon of Kannada cinema , Raj Kumar and a star in his own right , passed away today. He was just 46 years, and this has put all of us in great shock. The family of late Raj Kumar have ever been extremely close. My prayers condolences," Bachchan wrote.
The 79-year-old blogged that the other person who died was the mother of a family friend.
Puneeth, who was known to be a fitness enthusiast, was rushed to Vikram Hospital after he complained of chest pain following a two-hour workout in the gym, doctors treating him said. He died shortly after.
His death was mourned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, among others.
Several big names from the South film industry, including veteran actor Chiranjeevi, Mahesh Babu, Siddharth, as well as names from Bollywood like Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt, also paid tributes to the actor.
Puneeth began his career as a child artist appearing in movies like "Thayige Thakka Maga", "Vasantha Geetha" and "Bhagyavantha".
He made his debut as a leading man with 2002 movie "Appu" and followed it up with movies like "Abhi", "Veera Kannadiga" and "Maurya", "Ajay" and "Arasu".
T 4079 - .. a day of remorse and prayer .. two close to the family passed away today .. it is too dark ..
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) October 29, 2021
Actor Chetan Kumar Ahimsa shared the news about the eyes donation and tweeted:
While I was at hospital to see Appu Sir, a medical group came to remove his eyes in 6-hour window after death
— Chetan Kumar Ahimsa / ಚೇತನ್ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ (@ChetanAhimsa) October 29, 2021
Appu Sir—like Dr Rajkumar & @NimmaShivanna—donated his eyes
Following in their footsteps & in Appu Sir’s memory, we must all pledge to donate our #eyes as well
I do so pic.twitter.com/MsNAv5zGZC
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Rishabh Pant's troubles continue as Punjab Kings push LSG towards exit door
Dharamsala, May 4 (PTI): Rishabh Pant lost the grip on his bat and the match simultaneously as Punjab Kings rode on heroics from the two 'Singhs' -- Prabhsimran and Arshdeep -- to literally push Lucknow Super Giants to the brink of elimination with a 37-run win in an IPL match here on Sunday.
It was Prabhsimran's 48-ball 91 that formed the cornerstone of Punjab Kings' unassailable 236 for 5 and any hopes of a remarkable chase was nipped in the bud by Arshdeep's (3/16 in 4 overs) now familiar Powerplay spell which summarily destroyed the opposition top-order.
This time, he got the three top run getters -- Mitchell Marsh (0), Aiden Markram (13) and the ever-dangerous Nicholas Pooran (6) -- to swing the match decisively in Punjab's favour. Ayush Badoni's (74 off 40 balls) effort was a good one albeit it came for a losing cause.
LSG were finally restricted to 199 for 7 in 20 overs and even if they win their last three games and get to 16 points from 14 games, their net run-rate can make things difficult for them.
Punjab Kings are now placed second with 15 points from 11 games and one more win could possibly clinch a place in top four for them.
But what is becoming an eyesore is LSG's Rs 27 crore worth skipper Pant's inexplicable approach which has fetched him a dismal 128 runs in 11 innings at a sub-100 strike-rate (99.22).
On the day, he scored 18 off 17 balls and that he is completely out of sync was evident in the manner he tried to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at an Azmatullah Omarzai delivery. There was no control in his shot as the bat took off on parabolic curve towards square leg and the ball went towards deep point.
Pant's misery was a testimony of LSG's wretched campaign that was lost at the auction table when the owner decided to go with a sub-standard bowling attack based on a half-fit talented pacer Mayank Yadav.
Mayank has already lost at least 10-15 yards of pace post rehabilitation under the watch of Nitin Patel at the National Cricket Academy.
On Sunday, he went for 60 runs off four overs with half a dozen of sixes struck off his bowling.
The pint-sized Prabhsimran packed a mean punch in his strokes as he blasted his way to a 48-ball 91 with the help of six fours and seven sixes.
The Punjab keeper-batter should have got his second IPL hundred but an ambitious switch hit off Digvesh Rathi saw him head back to the pavilion, nine runs short of what would have been a deserving milestone.
Towards the end, Shashank Singh scored 33 off 15 balls to take PBKS to what looked like an unassailable total. There were 16 sixes hit by Pujab Kings with 13 coming off pacers.
Prabhsimran was initially a passive partner as it was Australian Jos Inglis who launched the first attack with a hat-trick of sixes off Mayank Yadav, whose speed has decreased by at least 15 kmph post his intense rehab under Nitin Patel at the BCCI's erstwhile National Cricket Academy to recover from back injury.
However, once Inglis was dismissed, Prabhsimran, along with skipper Shreyas Iyer (45 off 25 balls), took control of the game. They were only helped by some atrocious fielding from Avesh Khan, who would probably go down as the worst fielder in the 18-year history of IPL.
Adding insult to injury, Prabhsimran took the tall MP fast bowler to the cleaners as he was pulled over mid-wicket for back-to-back maximums. Khan went for 57 in four overs and if around 15 runs due to his misfielding is added, he caused the maximum damage for his team.
The duo of Prabhsimran and Iyer added 78 runs in 7.5 overs before Rathi, LSG's best bowler on view, became the first spinner in the current season to account for Punjab Kings skipper's wicket.
But Prabhsimran continued like a man possessed and LSG bowlers were guilty of feeding to his strengths throughout the innings.
