The Gajanur segment, where Puneeth takes Amoghavarsha to the home where his father and matinee idol Rajkumar was born and the nearly 250-year-old banyan tree he loved, slept under and sometimes meditated at, offers an intimate other-side of the life of a star. This is also the place from where Rajkumar was kidnapped by Veerappan and released after more than a 100 days in captivity.
Amid nature, Puneeth is philosophical, almost wistful in his thinking. He ponders about life, about the timelessness of the forest, about the eternal nature of water. And none of it seems forced or put on, thanks to the fact that Puneeth is both eager questioner and active listener. And, what Amoghavarsha does in this film is almost help the star tick off every item on his nature bucket list, including camping by the Kali river, and relishing ready-to-eat food boiled in hot water. It is mighty poignant that the film releases a day before Puneeth’s first death anniversary.
“I’ve always wanted to camp in a tent, but never had the opportunity or a friends’ circle interested in it. Know what I did? I erected a tent in my garden and spent a night there,” Puneeth laughs.
Everyone knows Puneeth is a people person, but the fact that he’s at ease in any surrounding is evident in the section in the forest, where he spends time with members of an anti-poaching camp and forest watchers and guards in the BRT Tiger Reserve. They go together for an early morning recce, play a round of Kotyadhipati [the show he hosted] by a stream, and go to chase an elephant that has entered a farm.
Near Murdeshwar, at Netrani island, shaped like a heart, instructor Mariyam takes Puneeth and Amogh on a dive. They see a multitude of colourful marine life, and also plastic bottles and fishing nets settled on the ocean floor. When he emerges from the water, Puneeth looks a different person — there’s a certain calm in his face and the quiet acknowledgement that he’s been gifted the chance to experience a journey like this.