LN Shastri's life is a story of `what could have been'

BENGALURU: Playback singer L N Shastri, 46, who sang over 3,000 songs in

Kannada

films, passed away at his Nagarbhavi residence on Wednesday.The singer was ailing from intestinal cancer. Shastri is survived by wife, playback singer Suma Shastry and daughter.

Starting his music ca reer in theat re in the 1980s, Shastri's stint in the Kannada industry saw him don various roles: from a track singer to a playback singer to a music composer and even a film producer.Best recognized as the singer of the hit, Kolumande Jangamadeva from the film Janumada Jodi, Shastri's life is a story of `what could have been'. Debuting as a playback singer in 1991 with the song Love Love Loveaah, which was composed by Hamsalekha for the film Ajagajantara, Shastri's moment of glory came when he lent his voice for Kolumande Jangamadeva. The song won him a Karnataka State Award for

Best

Male Playback Singer in 1996. While other songs followed, Shastri couldn't replicate the success this folk song composed by V Manohar did.

“I met Shastri in the early 80s at a theatre workshop in Mandya. He was a singer and Mandya Ramesh was an actor. He started his career in theatre, then spent five to six years singing in live orchestras, eventually landing in films,“ recalls filmmaker and theatre professional B Suresha. “It was sometime in 1990 that I introduced him to music director Hamsalekha.In fact, I even got my mother, Dr Vijaya, who was a journal ist, to call Hamsalekha requesting him to meet Shastri. They met and Shastri worked with Hamsalekha for almost nine years. He'd also worked with other music directors Gurukiran and V Manohar,“ said Suresha. Ruing Shastri's lack of success, he added, “In their demand for good album sales, music labels insist on getting national singers to lend their vocals for Kannada songs, while local singers are given little encouragement. Shastri was talented but he remained a track singer for a long time because of lack of opportunities. I think the biggest blow for him was when the movie, Melody, that he composed music for and produced in 2015, bombed. He wanted to achieve a lot, that he died young is sad,“ Suresha said.

Recalling his experience of working with Shastri, music composer Arjun Janya said, “ I have lost a friend and a brother today."

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