Nilachaley Mahaprabhu

{{Short description|1957 film by Kartik Chattopadhyay}}

{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Nilachaley Mahaprabhu

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| director = Kartik Chattopadhyay

| producer =

| writer =

| screenplay = Nripendrakrishna Chattopadhyay
Bimal Mitra

| story = Nripendrakrishna Chattopadhyay

| starring = Asim Kumar
Dipti Roy
Sumitra Devi
Chhabi Biswas
Ahindra Choudhury
Bhanu Bandyopadhyay
Kanu Banerjee
Nripati Chattopadhyay

| narrator =

| music = Rai Chand Boral
Pranab Ray (lyrics)
Baishnab Mahalanabis (lyrics)

| cinematography = Amulya Mukhopadhyay

| editing = Haridas Mahalanobis

| studio = Udoy Chitra Pratisthan

| based_on = Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

| distributor = Movie Maya Pvt. Ltd.

| released = {{film date |df=yes|1957|06|28|India}}

| runtime =

| country = India

| language = Bengali

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Nilachaley Mahaprabhu was a 1957 Indian Bengali biographical film directed by Kartik Chattopadhyay, based on the life of 15th-century mystic Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who started his spiritual journey and Hindu reform movement, part of the Bhakti movement during his years at Nilachal, the shrine of Jagannath at Puri.{{cite book |last1=Sur |first1=Ansu |last2=Goswami |first2=Abhijit |title=Bengali Film Directory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-hkAAAAMAAJ |page=96 |year=1999 |publisher=Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre}}{{cite web |title=A celebration of divine love |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120527/jsp/calcutta/story_15535668.jsp |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140930174304/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120527/jsp/calcutta/story_15535668.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 September 2014 |date=27 May 2012 |publisher=The Telegraph |accessdate=30 September 2014}} It stars Asim Kumar in the title role with Dipti Roy, Sumitra Devi, Ahindra Choudhury, Bhanu Bandyopadhyay, Nripati Chattopadhyay and Chhabi Biswas in supporting roles.{{cite web |title=Nilachale Mahaprabhu |url=http://www.citwf.com/film240195.htm |work=World Film Database |accessdate=30 September 2014 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006094046/http://www.citwf.com/film240195.htm |url-status=live }}

At the beginning of his career, a 20-year-old Soumitra Chatterjee was rejected in his screen test for the film by director Kartik Chattopadhyay, he later made his debut with Apur Sansar (1959).{{cite web |author=Anuradha SenGupta |title=Being Soumitra Chatterjee: Star of the East |publisher=CNN-IBN |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/being-soumitra-chatterjee-star-of-the-east/67961-19.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201175954/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/being-soumitra-chatterjee-star-of-the-east/67961-19.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 December 2008 |date=29 June 2008 |accessdate=30 September 2014}} The film continues to be a popular amongst Chaitanya and Krishna devotees and ISKCON followers.{{cite web |title=First Devotee to Turn Hundred in Mauritius |author=Karunika dasi |url=http://iskconnews.org/first-devotee-to-turn-hundred-in-mauritius,3939/ |date=27 June 2013 |publisher=iskconmauritius.com |accessdate=30 September 2014 |archive-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006101651/http://iskconnews.org/first-devotee-to-turn-hundred-in-mauritius,3939/ |url-status=live }} The first film of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Nader nimai followed by this film.