The Karnataka government’s attempts to cling on to late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s legacy over the last one year has irked several members of the film industry as well as many close to the family. Ever since the popular actor’s untimely death on October 29, 2021, numerous pictures and statues of Puneeth have been put up by fans. The actor’s cult-like legacy has taken centre stage in programmes related to Kannada language and culture.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s government has officially renamed several roads, junctions and buildings after the late actor. From making his posthumous releases tax free to dedicating several government programmes to the late actor, the Chief Minister himself has been at the forefront of celebrating Puneeth’s legacy. On November 1, 2022, Puneeth became the ninth Kannadiga to receive the Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian award accorded by the Government of Karnataka. The same day, Bommai also announced that the biography of the late actor will be included in school syllabi.
Senior journalist and author Sugata Srinivasaraju says that CM Bommai’s overenthusiasm in celebrating Puneeth’s legacy is an attempt to salvage his image, which he says is declining. “Bommai is isolated within his own party, with no friends and only competitors. So it feels like he is cashing in on the legacy of the most popular actor of the Kannada film industry. There is a disproportionate focus on Puneeth, when in reality, it was his father who was a great cultural icon,” Sugata says. He adds that the Bommai government’s excesses that make Puneeth overshadow his father will not go down well with many fans.
For fans of Kannada films, members of the late thespian Rajkumar’s family hold a special place. The veteran actor was the biggest Kannada language and cultural icon of his generation. In a state where different regions practise unique traditions and speak different dialects of Kannada, if not a different language, Rajkumar served as a unifying force. His influence reached far beyond movies, which is why he is celebrated decades after his demise.
Rajkumar’s sons — Shiva, Raghavendra and Puneeth — have their own fan following and the family is often considered as the first family of Sandalwood. They have mostly stayed away from politics (barring Shiva Rajkumar’s wife Gita who contested in the Assembly elections) despite all mainstream parties trying very hard to get them into politics. “But a political party exploiting the legacy of Puneeth Rajkumar is visible now,” says Muralidhara Khajane, a senior journalist who writes on Kannada culture and cinema.
When the Karnataka Ratna award ceremony was being held in the footsteps of the state secretariat Vidhana Soudha, at least six ministers from the Bommai cabinet, along with several others from the party, crowded the stage, almost nudging each other out. In the melee that followed, Shiva Rajkumar too was sidelined and almost not visible on stage. Sugata says, “The worst part is that this is exploitative because there has been a tragedy. It was not done in good taste. And it is a difficult situation for the family too.” A source close to the Rajkumar family shares this view.
Sugata says that he has never seen any other Chief Minister in Karnataka who has taken this approach to leverage the film industry. “The number of film events he has attended is unprecedented. The entire publicity thing has boomeranged because of his excesses. From the beginning, Bommai, as a Chief Minister, should not have kissed Puneeth’s forehead. His grief could not have been greater than that of the family,” he says.
“For a government to go overboard like this is just pandering. If this was done during Rajkumar’s time, it was understandable as he had played a huge role in saving Kannada language and literature. But what is happening now is not a cultural event but just hyperbole,” says a political scientist who chose to remain anonymous. “There seems to be a lack of political calculation on their (the state government) part too because it is naive to think this will translate into votes. It is just political immaturity,” he says.
Khajane says that an extravagant celebration of someone’s death like this is vulgar. “It is being used as an election ploy. The Chief Minister raising slogans is embarrassing. And all this, in front of the woman who lost her husband. It is a great disservice to his memory. The way ministers were standing, vying to be photographed at the event, it became an exhibition of vulgar political ambition. Even family members were sidelined in the event,” he adds.
A senior BJP leader says that many in the party also felt embarrassed watching the award ceremony. “The way in which ministers, particularly CM Bommai and Minister R Ashoka, were snatching the microphone from each other, it was very obvious that they all thought it would get them brownie points and Puneeth’s fans would become a key vote bank. But it backfired very badly,” the leader says.
Leaders close to the BJP high command say that the arrangement of the event was messy, not befitting the grandeur of the occasion. “They were so swept up in it and did not even anticipate rain. Guests of honour got drenched, ministers took the opportunity to crowd the stage and speak out of turn. The event was a mirror to Bommai's inability to imagine, plan and execute. Such a hyped event managed so badly,” says the BJP leader.