Thread by @s_a_n_j

It was 2008/09, a bunch of us friends were visiting Coorg on a leisure trip. Atop the Mandalpatti hillock, we saw a set and some dance sequence being shot.

Our curiosity knew no bounds and we went closer to the set to see the protagonist in the shoot, and dressed in what looked like some rags was our hero #PuneethRajkumar . He was shooting for the movie RajThe Showman.

It was in a remote location and there weren't too many onlookers, we felt a little less silly to watch shoot, and waited for him to finish his dance sequence which was for #ShankarNag famous ಸಂತೋಷಕ್ಕೆ number.

There whe was take after take sweating it out to get the directors approval, I remember it was taking a while for them to call cut, so we thought enough of being clueless fans, let's finish the touristy thing we were there in Coorg for.

We explored the amazing location and thought to ourselves, if they were done shooting when we got back, we might as well call out and say hello. But as it turns out tourists loose the track of time, by the time we were back the shooting was over and the sets were being dismantled

And were almost dejected to not find our hero #PuneethRajkumar there. Blaming our blessed luck we started trekking down the hillock, when we happened to see his entourage getting down the hill. We quickly rushed to be by his side and spoke some stupid sounding hello.

We didn't think he would hear us, but then we couldn't have been more wrong, he turned to our group amidst the already sizeable set of humans there and said "yen appaji, chennagideera" or something similar but definitely had appaji in it.

What struck me at that moment was, where is the stars stardom? Why does he need to address us as appaji, possibly his way of remembering his dad #DrRajkumar forever. (who used to address his fans as "abhimani devarugalu" meaning fan gods).

Whatever may it be, a star being so humble and down to earth made us all his fans instantly. His infectious energy, his radiance and warmth just engulfed us one and all. He gave hits and flops like there ought to be, but never did his stature diminish.

Today, the power star has been stripped off his powers by the powers to be, I only hope it is to deploy him and his like in higher places which are in need.

REST IN PEACE #PuneethRajkumar