'Acting never ends'

He literally cut his teeth under limelight. He made his debut before the camera when he was barely a five-month-old infant. By the time he turned 10, he had won the President’s award for the best child actor. And, it is in the scheme of things that the audience finds it credible that only Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar could portray the role in Raaj The Showman, his latest blockbuster.

Puneeth calls his Raaj The Showman experience “worthwhile”. “It’s totally different: the concept and the direction. I don’t think the Kannada film industry has ever had a film like this one,” he told Metrolife. In Raaj…, Puneeth plays the role of a village lad who aspires to be a superstar. He’s crazy about films and loses no opportunity to sneak out to watch a film. The film captures the struggle of an actor to get to the top.

Having grown up watching his father, Puneeth is more of a people’s actor. “People always tell me that I must be like my father or even better than him but I can never be like Dr Rajkumar. He is one of a kind and I hold an identity that can never match that of my father’s,” he says rather humbly.

Puneeth’s films are known for its real life themes and storylines. His films such as Appu, Abhi, Namma Basava, Vamshi and Arasu have a definite message and a soul in them, apart from being big time entertainers.

Puneeth says that he has played just about every kind of role but no actor can ever say he is perfect even after he has done every role.