Behind Puneeth Rajkumar’s role as Collector in ‘Prithvi’…

Kannada for me has always been a language of life and the forces that sustained it were my family, friends, society and Kannada movies.

Dr Rajkumar and his movies have been the markers of different phases of my life and the journey continued further with Shivanna, Raghanna and Puneeth Sir.

I fall short of words to express the vacuum that the sudden demise of Puneeth Sir has created in my life.

I was District Collector, Jaisalmer in 2008 and it being a destination for many movie shootings, permission for shoot is accorded by the Collector. I was excited to see the file submitted before me for giving permission to the shoot of the Kannada movie Raj, and I enquired about the actors and was informed about Puneeth Sir acting in the movie.

I gave the permission and did not follow up further. Surprisingly, director Prem Sir and members of his crew came to my office the next day to greet me and invited me for dinner. I asked whether Puneeth Sir would be at the dinner, to which Prem Sir said, “Please come with family Sir, we all will be there.”

I took my wife Ashwini, sister Harshita and mother Umadevi for the dinner without telling them about the event.

My family, being devotees of Dr Rajkumar, was shocked to see Puneeth Sir who greeted us like a known family member.

We spoke for hours and there was a Manganiar family (a family of traditional musicians) playing the famous Ghulam Ali song, ‘Dil mein ik lehar si uthi hain’. Puneeth Sir took me to the fireplace where they were playing it, heard the song and handed over all the 500-rupee notes in his pocket to the poor musicians. He told me Appaji loved this song and all Ghulam Ali songs, and further told me about the song ‘Gelathi baredu intha samaya’ from the movie Eradu Nakshatragalu which was inspired by the Ghulam Ali song.

Further, we spoke about Kannada movies and I told him about all the Dr Rajkumar movies that I adore (Kamana Billu, Bangarada Manushya, Kasturi Nivasa, Babruvahana, Bhakta Prahlada…). I told him even the real Arjuna did not look like Arjuna as much as Dr Rajanna looked in the movie.

During our casual chat, I told him that an entire generation got influenced by the characters played by Dr Rajkumar in his movies and took his character as a role model…. ‘doctor’ in Shruti Seridaga, ‘farmer’ in Bangarada Manushya, ‘inspector’ in Akasmika/Keralida Simha, ‘philanthropist’ in Kasturi Nivasa…

I simply said, “Puneeth Sir, you must play more of such characters in your movies that will inspire the youth,” and gave the example of a DC/Collector.

Our never-ending Jaisalmer dinner ended and we parted ways.

In just a few months, I received his call and he told me, “Ravi Sir, I have just signed a movie where I play a DC, being directed by Vinod Jacob.” Puneeth Sir reminded me of our dinner chat and his approval of the idea.

His greatness was in taking a casual remark so seriously and acknowledging it not just to me in private but even in one of his interviews — which I did not watch but people called and told me about it.

I was his friend till then and his father’s devotee, but from that moment, I became his hardcore fan.

My wife was carrying during our meeting in Jaisalmer. He took care of her during the dinner and spoke to my Amma and sister.

We were in touch telephonically and in 2018, when I was District Collector, Jodhpur, we met again and relived the memories of our last meeting, creating new ones.

I joined the government of Karnataka in 2019 on deputation, and was in BBMP during the first Covid lockdown, and we met in few programmes briefly.

On 22nd June, 2020, he surprised my 9-year-old son Aprameya by making a video call on his birthday.

Everytime he called me, he would be worried only about the poor film industry workers and the poor because of the lockdown.

His words would be, “Sir, God has been kind to me but what about my poor film industry workers?”

He was always willing to help the government to promote as many social causes as possible.

His simplicity, humility, kindness and dignity will be a inspiration for millions.

My fortunate journey with him will not end just because he left his body.

Dil mein ik lehar si uthi hain abhi…

Dr Ravi Kumar Surpur is a Rajasthan cadre (2004 batch) IAS officer who is currently on deputation to his home state Karnataka and is presently Commissioner, Social Welfare Department.