Exclusive: ‘It was Puneeth's wish to release James on his birthday’ says director Chetan

Puneeth Rajkumar's last film, James, is all set to hit the theatres on March 17. For the unversed, the film is will be released on the birth anniversary of the late actor. Days before the film's release, James director Chetan Kumar revealed that it was Puneeth's wish that the film releases on his birthday, as a treat for his fans.

With barely a few days left for actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s last film ‘James’, director Chetan Kumar revealed the reason behind why the film’s releasing on March 17. James is releasing on the same day when Puneeth would have celebrated his 47th birthday this year.

In an exclusive conversation with Asianet Newsable, James’ director Chetan Kumar revealed that it was Puneeth Rajkumar’s wish to release the film on his birthday for his fans. And to fulfil the late actor’s wish, the film’s crew worked for 18 hours a day in the post-production stages since February 5.

While speaking with this reporter, Chetan Kumar said, “The film will be released in five different languages. It will be released overseas too to cater to Kannadigas and fans of Appu Sir; in the US alone, the film will be released on about 150 screens. To ensure the film passed the censor, it was sent to Australia to complete the process and we are all set now.”

Recalling the time spent with Puneeth Rajkumar on the sets James which also stars actors Saratkumar and Srikanth Meeka from Tamil and Telugu industries respectively, the director said, “The postproduction days were tensed and full of stress. In those days, Appu Sir would walk up to me and calm me down. He’d ask me to put a smile on my face and continue working – a piece of advice he gave to everyone on the sets.”

“He belonged to the first family of the sandalwood industry, had a huge fan base and had in fact, gone a step ahead of his legendary actor, Dr Rajkumar. Despite all these factors, he never showed any attitude on the sets and was always a director's actor”, added Chetan. Meanwhile, the University of Mysuru recently decided to give an honorary doctorate posthumously to Puneeth Rajkumar.