About 50 small businesses thriving at Puneeth samadhi

They sprang up the day he was laid to rest, and sell everything from Puneeth merchandise to umbrellas and jewellery

Huge crowds are travelling long distances to visit Kanteerava Studios to pay their tributes to Puneeth Rajkumar.

At any point, several thousand people are in queue to enter the studio, moving quietly to get to the spot where the movie star, who died on October 29, is interred.

Metrolife visited the samadhi, and found visitors from places as distant as Belagavi, Shivamogga and Hubballi.

Small businesses working out of makeshift shacks are thriving just outside the studio. Vendors selling a variety of items — food, umbrellas, raincoats and artificial jewellery — line the service road approaching the studio.

At least 50 vendors have set up shop after Puneeth was laid to rest here on October 31. They say their incomes have gone up two or three times since they moved to the vicinity of the studio.

Puneeth is all over the merchandise, and is featured in framed pictures, and on posters and mobile phone pouches. Gangadhara, who sells posters, displays a huge variety of Puneeth posters.

“This place has been transformed into a jathre. Some people have come here more than twice. I have sold at least 300 posters in the last two weeks,” he says.

The posters are priced at Rs 30 a piece. “I get them from Chickpet. There are times when I have to order extra stocks because of the high demand,” he says.

Mobile pouch sellers are sourcing their stocks from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. Miniature stills from Puneeth’s popular movies adorn the back of the pouches.

Sayeed, who sells pouches, runs the business with five others. “We make about Rs 5,000 a day, thanks to the huge crowds visiting the samadhi. The normal pouches cost Rs 50 and the 3D ones Rs 100. People find the 3D one more attractive,” says Sayeed.

Spotting the unusual

Maulah, an umbrella seller, says his 12-hour toil selling umbrellas pays him rich dividends. “I live near Laggere, just five km away from the samadhi. This proximity helps me set up my shop as early as 6.30 am and I wind up by 6.30 pm,” says Maulah, who sells between 10 and 20 umbrellas every day.

On the far end of the road are Renuka and Rajesh, both bank employees, looking at the folksy fiddle on sale in one of the shops. “I like the sound of the instrument. I am a huge Puneeth fan and I know almost all his songs by heart. I hope to play some of them on this instrument,” says Renuka.

Food on wheels

Scores of eateries are selling steamed corn and peanuts, vadas and chaats. Kalavathi, who makes savouries at home, says, “I wake up at 4 am to prepare the day’s items.”

Wheeled in

Manjunath Reddy and Kanchan, both wheelchair bound, were married on September 1. The two share a passion for Puneeth films, and haven’t missed even a single release. “I am waiting for my mother-in-law Bhageerati to come from Belagavi to visit the samadhi,” Manjunath, a software professional with Society General in Bengaluru, says.

Manjunath and Kanchan faced no difficulty: they were wheeled in on the ramps and the authorities opened the entrance to the VVIP to let them in.