Shiva Rajkumar on surviving cancer, losing his brother Puneeth, says 'I didn't even know if I would come back'

"I left for treatment [cancer surgery in US] on December 18, 2024. At that time, I was very emotional, and my eyes were watering. Many media friends had come, and they also cried. I didn't even know if I would come back. No matter how much the doctors assured me, I was afraid that something else might happen," he said.

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He revealed that he was accompanied for the treatment with his wife and his daughter's friend.

"The surgery was on December 24. That morning, they gave me a medicine, and after that I was unconscious. I don't know what happened after that," he added.

When he regained consciousness after five hours, he said: "When I woke up after 5-6 hours, my wife was there. She held my hand. And my eyes started watering as I told her, 'I didn't think I'd hold your hand again'. The doctors brought me back like gods."

Losing younger brother Puneeth 

The actor also talked about how losing Puneeth, a beloved star in his own right, affected him emotionally.

Puneeth's sudden death in 2021 left a huge hole in Kannada cinema. Shiva has often publicly paid tribute to Puneeth, showing how much the loss affected him as a person and as an artist. The siblings always shared a great bond and Puneeth was a lot fonder to the audience than his brother.

45, directed by Arjun Janya and starring Upendra and Raj B. Shetty, will come out on December 25 in Kannada and January 1 in Tamil and Hindi. This shows how popular Shiva is in different languages.

Shiva has stayed busy despite his health problems. He just finished filming other projects and is now working on several new ones. One of these is the Telugu movie Peddi, in which he stars with Ram Charan. This is another exciting chapter in his career.
Shiva Rajkumar's ability to keep making big movies even after getting very sick shows how strong he is and how important he is to Indian cinema. Fans are excited for 45, which many see as a tribute to his hard work and passion.
On the other hand, his fans are curiously waiting for his presence in Jailer 2 which has Rajinikanth in the titular role. He will also be a part of the biopic of Gummadi Narsaiah. He is playing the titular role in this Telugu film which is currently in the pre-production stage.