Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Caitanya, IAST Caitanya Mahāprabhu; 18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534) was a Bengali spiritual teacher. He is believed by his devotees to be Krishna himself who appeared in the form of His own devotee in order to teach the people of this world the process of Bhakti and how to attain the perfection of life. He is considered as the most merciful manifestation of Krishna. Chaitanya was the proponent for the Vaishnava school of Bhakti yoga (meaning loving devotion to God), based on Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita. Of various incarnations of Vishnu, he is revered as Krishna, popularised the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra and composed the Siksastakam (eight devotional prayers) in Sanskrit. His followers, Gaudiya Vaishnavas, revere him as a Krishna with the mood and complexion of his source of inspiration Radha.

Chaitanya is sometimes referred to by the names Gauranga or Gaura due to his fair complexion, and Nimai due to his being born underneath a Neem tree. There is no evidence, however, that he was born under a Neem Tree. He was very naughty in his young days. His original name was Vishambhar. He was a brilliant student and Nimai was his nickname. At an early age he became an scholar and opened a school. His teachings helped flourish Bhakti movement in east India, particularly Bengal and Odisha from 16th century onwards.

Chaitanya (film)

Chaitanya is a 1991 Telugu road movie, produced by Sathyam Babu on Sri Tirumalesa Productions banner, written and directed by Prathap K. Pothan. Starring Akkineni Nagarjuna, Gautami in lead roles and music composed by Ilaiyaraaja.

Plot

Chaitanya, (Akkineni Nagarjuna) is the chief mechanic for the upcoming Roots Challenge 1991 Automotive rally race – which starts via the route from Chennai coast to Goa coast, a route which is noted for illegal drug trade and arms trafficking. Retired Major Harischandra Prasad (Girish Karnad) is the chief guest for the rally, his daughter Padmini (Gautami) also competes for the Roots Challenge Trophy.

Chaitanya's journalist friend Sudhakar (Chinna) witnesses the murder of the city D.I.G. in a park. The D.I.G.'s murder happens to have been planned by a high profile unknown criminal. Later, Sudhakar's murdered by a gang near his garage because he witnessed the murder of the D.I.G. Chaitanya finds himself beaten by the gang after he comes to the assistance of Sudhakar. When he regains his senses he finds himself with a revolver in his hand and in police custody, arrested and charged with the homicide of the friend he tried to assist. With evidence pointing toward his guilt, he has virtually no defense and may well spend the rest of his life in prison or be hanged. He manages to escape from the prison with the help of Chaitanya's garage assistant, Golconda (a drunkard), through the journalist's friend (Joseph) in a water tanker. Disguised as the journalist's friend, the high profile criminal's henchman is hidden in the tanker.

L. N. Shastri

L. N. Shastri (also credited as Chaitanya) is an Indian playback singer and music composer who primarily works in Kannada cinema. Starting his career as a playback singer in the film Ajagajantara (1996), Shastri went on to sing for more than 3000 songs. Upon his friends' suggestion, he rechristened as Chaitanya and composed music for over 25 films starting with Kanasalu Neene Manasalu Neene (1998). However, he dropped the name due to the identity crisis for the film Bellary Naga (2009).

His biggest hit song as a singer has been "Kolumande Jangamadevaru" from the film Janumada Jodi (1996) which gave him a career break and also fetched him the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. He has been closely associated with music directors Hamsalekha and V. Manohar who have been the main support for his growing career since his initial days.

Career

In the early 90's Shastri was mainly seen singing track songs for major playback singers like S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and others. The film Ajagajantara (1991) composed by Hamsalekha offered him a chance to share the mic with Balasubrahmanyam for the song "Love Love Loveah". Following this, Shastri teamed up with composer V. Manohar and sung many songs for the films that featured actor Jaggesh in the lead. The songs "Anthintha Gandu Naanalla" from Bhanda Nanna Ganda (1992), "Priya Priya" from Super Nanna Maga (1992), "Dagar Dagar" from Tharle Nan Maga (1992), "Avanalli Ivalilli" from Shhh (1993) were some of his early hits which appealed to the masses. In the meantime, Shastri was working as an assistant composer to both Hamsalekha and V. Manohar for all their films.