Morning Raga

Morning Raga
File:Mrdvd123.jpg IMDB 6.8/10 (140 votes)
Directed by	Mahesh Dattani
Written by	Mahesh Dattani
Produced by	K.Raghavendra Rao
Starring	Shabana Azmi Prakash Kovelamudi Perizaad Zorabian Lillete Dubey
Cinematography	Rajiv Menon
Music by	Mani Sharma / Amit Heri
Running time	110 min (US Edition)
Languages	English Telugu

Morning Raga is an Indian film with most of the dialogue in English, released in 2004. Directed by Mahesh Dattani and starring Bollywood stars Shabana Azmi,Perizad Zorabian and Tollywood Hero Prakash. The film is unusual for its sensible storyline and extensive use of English, albeit with a generous smattering of Godavari Telugu. The film revolves around three main characters - all Telugu in the story - whose lives have each been shattered by tragic events of the past and how they are united by circumstance. Slowly they begin to work together and blend their passions to bring back the happiness they once had. These three are all connected by a love of music, and through this the film explores elements of classical Indian music, the raga, and combines it with contemporary rhythms to create the most distinctive and mesmerizing beats and echoing vocals.

Plot

The story is set deep in the Andhra Pradesh countryside, in the wealthy West Godavari. Swarnalata (Shabana Azmi) is a classically-trained Carnatic singer who lost her son and best friend in a road accident. Swarnalata is depicted as a cultured and well off woman, and the house used for her home is a historic zamindar country mansion and estate in Kulla. Swarnalata is still haunted by her loss, and keeps herself shut up in her grand house for twenty years, too depressed to meet people or even sing. Eventually her dead friend's son Abhinay (Prakash Rao) returns to the village to open up barely-healed wounds. Abhinay and his girlfriend Pinky (Perizaad Zorabian) are both musicians, albeit with more modern tastes, and are itching to make it big. Abhinay knows of Swarnalata's skill in Carnatic music. Abhinay wants Swarnalata to sing with his band in a fusion piece, and after much persuasion Swarnalata agrees. The young couple and the lady singer slowly bond as they play together, and slowly their common wounds are put behind them. A side plot involving Abhinay's girlfriend Pinky (Perizaad Zorabian) and her mother (Lillete Dubey) add comedy into an otherwise serious and thoughtful film. The film was photographed by Rajiv Menon and edited by Sreedhar Prasad. Music was composed by Mani Sharma.

Reception and criticism

The film is a subtle enactment of what may be termed as a clash between the de-centered centre and the 'ex-centric'. Swarnalata comprises the 'ex-centric' and marginalized voice who is stunted both by trauma and a harsh suspension of ambition. The City group represented by the young talents are a metaphor for what is essentially western and progressive. The key idea is not how the Western music is influenced and enriched by the East, or how the Western music 'modernizes' the traditional Carnatic musical heritage. The film reaches towards a hybridization through the crossing over of the bridge metaphor, that transports this two genres into a new realm of cross-over art and harmonic polyrhythm. What is native and shown as sterile is released from its xenophobia and endless nightmare of losing its identity. It is then added to the suffering post-colonial 'new' western music which finds its own identity and voice for a new generation, beyond its obvious Western-ness. Both the East and the West climb out of their respective comfort zones and intermingle into an immediate present that can only reflect this very generation and its cultural idiosyncrasy. The best is only the product of a joint effort to jazz up a new musical genre. The end is thus about ushering a postcolonial musical product that is a new culture in itself.

At first the English language mixed occasionally with Telugu tends to be at loggerheads with the music that runs through this moving tale of the power of music to heal and unify splintered souls.

A film critic writes that "Morning Raga is one of the most innovative and fresh films to come out of India in recent years" .

Soundtrack

Tr. #	Track name	Artist(s)
1	Mahaganapatim	Bombay Jayashree
2	Thaye Yashoda	Sudha Raghunathan, Ranjani Ramakrishnan
3	Mathey	Sudha Raghunathan, Kalyani Menon
4	Pibare Ramarasam	Kalyani Menon
5	Samaja Varagamana	Gayathri
6	Todi Alaap	Kalyani Menon
7	Remembering His Violin	Gayathri
8	City Interlude	Instrumental
9	Alaap Jam	Nandini Srikar
10	Coffee Shop Montage	Sunnetha Sarathy
11	Charminar	Veena, Rajesh Vaidya
12	The Chase	Gayathri(ranjani gayathri sisters)
13	Jagado Dharana	Bombay Jayashree, Nandini Srikar
14	Mahaganapatim Jam	Bombay Jayashree

External links

• Morning Raga at IMDb