The Love for Music
‘Morning Raga’, a captivating film, takes the viewers to a calm and peaceful India and keeps them enthralled with enchanting music. The artistes transport the audience on a journey of joy, shock and revival of a saga lost by tragedy. Enthralled by the theme and presentation, Yuka Maruyama awards a commendable certificate for the film with the words, ‘Worth Seeing’
Title |
Morning Raga |
|---|---|
Cast |
Shabana Azmi, |
Director |
Mahesh Dattani |
Language |
English and Telugu |
Morning Raga is an Indian film focussing on three main characters, who love music in their own way. It links the past and the future for them and bonds the people, created by their passion for music. This film, directed by Mahesh Dattani, released in 2004, featuring Shabana Azmi, Prakash Rao, and Perizaad Zorabian.
This story starts in a small and peaceful village in the West Godavari Disrtict of Andhra Pradesh. Swarnalatha (Shabana Azmi) is a talented Carnatic singer, and was classically trained. One day, she gets a chance to sing in the city. She asks her best friend, a violinist, to join the concert with her. She was not willing to go there at first, but finally she decides to play the violin with her. On the day of the concert, Swarnalatha, her son, her best friend, and the friend’s son take a bus to go to the city. But on the way, the bus collides with a car on a bridge and Swarnalatha loses her best friend and her own son. She is shattered and shuns the world and starts living like a recluse after the terrible accident.
Twenty years later, Abhinai (Prakash Rao), the son of Swarnaltha’s dead friend, quits his job to start his life as a musician. He goes back to his village and sees his father. The father understands his son’s dream and suggests that he succeeds in his job, but Abhinai does not listen to him. He is still tied down by the memory of his dead mother twenty years ago.
He happens to see Swarnalatha in the village, but she avoids talking to him. Abhinai also meets Pinky (Perizaad Zorabian), who is also interested in music and decides to form a band together. They enlist a bassist and drummer in their band, and start creating their own music in Pinky’s house. Thanks to the help of Pinky’s mother, they start playing at a restaurant, but most of customers are not interested in their music. Abhinai gets stuck with his band.
One day, a package is delivered to him. It was the violin of his dead mother. It reminds him of the happy days with her, so he decides to visit to his village again to see Swarnalatha. He wants to her sing with his band in a fusion piece, because he knows her skill in Carnatic music. She rejects his offer at first, but eventually agrees to join them. Their band gets a chance to perform at a concert one day, so they need to go to the city. Abhinai asks Swarnalatha to come to the city with them. She, however, does not want to go there because she remembers the accident when she gets to the bridge and gets off the bus. The concert gets cancelled. But she starts taking carnatic music classes for Pinky, who lived in Swarnalatha’s house. Their bond becomes stronger gradually as Pinky’s singing skill improves. Then, they get an opportunity to perform in a concert in the city again. Abhinai asks her to come to the city this time, and Pinky tries to persuade her saying nothing would happen on the bridge. Pinky also tells Swarnalta and Abhinai that it was her father who was driving the car which crashed with the bus twenty years ago.
On the day of the concert, Swarnalatha goes to the city. Abhinai’s father also comes and sees their performance. Swarnalatha hesitates to sing at first, but stands on the stage eventually and is applauded by the whole audience. There are also comedy sequences. The theme of this film is quite serious and thoughtful. It does not tire the audiences. The music is amazingly enchanting and fascinating, creating a great atmosphere for the whole film. It strongly draws our mind into the story.
This film is basically English, but sometimes people speak Telugu with English subtitles. It will be a treat for people who like Carnatic music, but even if you are not a buff, it is worth watching.
