Bengaluru, Nov. 24: In a strong bid to put an end to ‘fan war’ on social media sites, Mandya Lok Sabha MP and former multilingual star, Sumalatha Ambareesh on Wednesday appealed her Rebel Star Ambareesh fans to stop campaign to demand any award for her late husband.
Yesteryear actress Sumalata Ambreesh, who is a widow of Rebel Star made this appeal after offering floral tributes along with her son, Abhishek Gowda and host of other fans at the Ambareesh’s Samadhi (Similar to a tomb or mausoleum) at Kantheerava studio, where even famous film personalities such as Kannada thespian, Dr Rajukumar, his widow, Parvatamma Rajkumar and his youngest son and power star, Puneet Raj Kumar are buried.
After observing thirds death anniversary at the Samadhi here, Sumalata said that Ambreesh has got the unconditional love and affection from the people of Karnataka and he still rules the heart, hence, his fans should not resort to any unsavoury campaign that would cause immense pain if Ambareesh were to remain alive.
“Ambareesh never lobbied for any post or any award. Even if Puneet Raj Kumar gets ‘Karnataka Ratna’, state’s prestigious award posthumously, we all (Ambreesh Fans) should rejoice the state government’s decisions. After all, Punnet is our own boy. We knew him so well, and he used to call Ambreesh as his Mama (Maternal Uncle) , so do not resort to any such campaign which would have hurt if Ambareesh were to be alive today,” she said.
A section of Ambareesh fans had launched a social media campaign since, two days after, Karnataka chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai announced Karnataka Ratna award for Puneet Raj Kumar who succumbed to cardiac arrest on October 29 after attending his three hour rigorous gym training session.
Kannada super star Puneet Raj Kumar died at a relatively young age of 45 years and he is the youngest son of Dr Raj Kumar, who ruled the Kannada filmdom for more than five decades. Sahasasimha Vishnuvardhan and Rebel Star Ambareesh were his contemproraries, who died in 2009 and 2018 respectively and the duo too had commendable fan following after Dr Rajkumar’s popularity.
