By Thomas Scaria
Mangaluru, Oct 29, 2021: A Catholic priest, who manages an eye donation movement, joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thousands of others to mourn the sudden death of a Kannada cine actor.
Puneeth Rajkumar died October 29 following a heart attack at Vikram Hospital in Bengaluru, capital of Karnataka state. He had experienced chest pain while working out in a gym in the morning. He was 46.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that the coming generations will remember the actor fondly for his works and wonderful personality. “A cruel twist of fate has snatched away from us a prolific and talented actor, Puneeth Rajkumar. This was no age to go. Condolences to his family and admirers,” the prime minister tweeted.
The Karnataka government has declared a state funeral for the actor and the state’s chief minister has asked people to remain calm and pay homage to “this great person, and a youth icon.’
Claretian Father George Kannanthanam, who heads an eye donation campaign in Bengaluru, condoled the “untimely death” of the socially conscious young actor. Puneeth had pledged his eyes to an eye bank in Narayana Nethralaya, named after his father Rajkumar who was a champion of eye donation drive.
“The actor was also active as a social worker and a campaigner for eye donations with his visionary father, Rajkumar,” said Father Kannanthanam, who manages the Project Vision.
The actor’s eye corneas were removed and shifted to the eye bank immediately after his death and they will be donated to two persons, the priest told Matters India.
Lal Goel, the chairman of the Organ Donation India Foundation, says there is no greater deed as donating one’s own organs to other living humans.
“I am really sad about a very promising youth like Puneeth Rajkumar leaving us so fast and it has broken hearts of many of his followers, but I am sure, he also motivates several of his followers to pledge their eyes or organs too,” he told Matters India.
Goel said organ donation is a voluntary act in India, whereas it is compulsory in developed countries. “Almost 500,000 people die for want of organs every year in India, and thousands of people continue to be blind in India,” he said and added the actor’s death has led to more awareness on eye and organ donations in India.
Father Kannanthanam points out that globally some 39 million people are totally blind, and among them 15 million are in India. “So, more than one third of the blind population in the world are in our country,” said the Catholic priest who commended the Rajkumar family for spreading awareness on eye donation.
The priest says celebrities like Puneeth Rajkumar can be an effective role model to spread the message about eye or organ donations.
Known as ‘Powerstar’ in the Sandalwood (Kannada) films, Puneeth was the most famous celebrities and the highest-paid actors in the Kannada cinema.
He had appeared as the lead actor in commercially successful films such as Appu (2002), Abhi (2003), Veera Kannadiga (2004), Aakash (2005), Ajay (2006), Arasu (2007), Vamshi (2008), Raam (2009), Jackie (2010), Hudugaru (2011), Raajakumara (2017), and Anjani Putra (2017).