Kannappa: Vishnu Manchu is set to essay the role of the legendary Lord Shiva Devotee Kannappa in his upcoming starrer of the same name. There is a lot of buzz about the movie, especially because of Kannappa’s story and the star-studded cast. The movie stars Vishnu Manchu as Kannappa, Mohan Babu as Mahadeva Shasthri, Mohanlal as Kirata, Prabhas as Rudra, Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva, Kajal Aggarwal as Goddess Parvati and R. Sarathkumar as Nathanathudu. The film is set to release in theatres on June 27. Ahead of the release, know more about the Lord Shiva devotee.

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Who Is Kannappa?

The mythological action drama movie is inspired by the tale of Kannappa, a story drawn from Hindu mythology. It is believed that Kannappa was born as Thinna in the present-day Andhra Pradesh in a hunter family from the Chenchu tribe. His devotion to Lord Shiva began when he discovered the Vayu Lingam (embodiment of air) while he was on a hunt in the forest. It is believed that, to showcase his devotion and respect to the deity, Kannappa offered water from his mouth and meat from his hunt. These were accepted by Lord Shiva, seeing the sincerity and a pure heart of the devotee. But when Kannappa saw that the Shiv Lingam’s one eye was bleeding, without any second thought, he plucked one of his eyes to place on the Lingam, so that it stops bleeding. When the other eye of the Lingam started bleeding, Kannappa started preparing himself to donate another eye.

It is believed that Kannappa marked the spot of Lingam’s eye with his foot, so that he could place his eye on the correct side. Seeing the immense devotion, Lord Shiva appeared in front of him and stopped him from doing the action. The deity then restored Kannappa’s eyesight and granted him the boon of liberation. Since then, the Vayu Lingam has been worshipped by thousands of devotees, which is placed at the Srikalahasteeswara temple, Andhra Pradesh.

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Coming back to the movie, Kannappa is expected to bring the emotional side of the epic tale of the Lord Shiva devotee with a great visual flair. The movie has been directed by Mukesh Kumar Singh and produced by Mohan Babu.