Sivakarthikeyan on Puneeth Rajkumar: Doctor made him laugh hard, and it’s my biggest fortune

“I met Puneeth Rajkumar sir for the first time during an award function. I had performed a mimicry of Rajinikanth and he had appreciated me for the same back then. Just about a month ago, I had the opportunity to speak with sir again. And during the phone call, I got to talk about a lot of things with him. Despite being a huge star, he had no hesitation in telling me that he had seen all my films and he liked them. And he invited me to his house. It was not out of formality. He invited me to his house at least five times during our conversation,” Sivakarthikeyan recalled.

Sivakarthikeyan also noted that he could understand the extent of pain that Puneeth Rajkumar’s family is going through as he also lost his father when he was a teenager. “When I was 16, my father passed away. The emotion I felt looking at my mother then is what I felt when I saw Puneeth sir’s wife. I didn’t know how to react. When I saw both his daughters, I remembered that I was also in their position once. I believe that Puneeth sir will protect his family and his loved ones from heaven like a guardian angel,” he noted.

Sivakarthikeyan also said that Puneeth’s wife Ashwini had told him that he really enjoyed watching Doctor. “After watching Doctor, he phoned the director and spoke with him. Just now I got to know from ma’am that he mentioned Doctor to her many times after watching it. I didn’t know how to react to it when ma’am told me that. She told me that the film made him laugh so hard and I consider it as one of my biggest fortunes,” he said.

Last Friday, Puneeth suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away at the age of 46. He was laid to rest on Sunday with full state honours.