Puneeth BA’s cinematic leap

Puneeth BA started off promoting Kannada film posters on his online platform, Poster Boy Art Studios. While he gave life to some old film posters, he gave others his own artistic take, loaded with humour and perspective.

Puneeth gradually grew as an artiste, creating humourous videos, which were uploaded on his YouTube channel during the lockdowns. His Uncle Series and Manager Series were popular. Puneeth now is making his entry into the Kannada film industry. He will be seen in Aadarinda, directed by KM Chaitanya (which is a part of an anthology), Narayana Narayana directed by Srikanth Kenchappa, the medical thriller O2 (where he plays a doctor), jointly directed by Raghav Nayak and Prashanth Raj, which is bankrolled by PRK Productions, and Shivaji Surathkal 2 directed by Akash Srivatsa.

“The shooting of all four films are done and they are in the post production stage,” says a happy Puneeth, who credits each director for teaching him something valuable.

The actor and his onscreen avataars

The actor started off as a child artiste with P Shehsadri’s Tuttoori and Aarathi’s Mithai Mane. He worked in children’s theatre and trained under the theatre personality AS Murthy and his troupe, Bimba. He then moved into the digital space where he not only created Poster Boy Arts Studios but also collaborated with actors such as Prakash Raj and Ramesh Aravind for their webseries, The Kathe Project.

“It was more like an exploratory space for me. Today, content creation is a full time job,” says Puneeth. His first break in films came through his online presence. “Some of the directors started following my work. Chaitanya was one of them. We got talking online and one day he offered me a role in his anthology. I am grateful to him as he showed me a whole new world of cinema. I am humbled that my very first project is with an acclaimed director. What began as a learning experience with Chaitanya, then continued with the other directors too. Shooting for a film is very different from creating your own content.”

The youngster is also in awe of Ramesh Aravind, with whom he shares the screen space for Shivaji Suratkal 2. “I am a huge fan of his and have worked with him on some of his virtual projects. He has been like a mentor to me and taught me to push myself to do things. He is a spontaneous actor and working with him has been a dynamic experience.”