Morning Raaga
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''Morning Raga'' is a 2004 Indian English-language musical
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
written and directed by
Mahesh Dattani Mahesh Dattani (born 7 August 1958) is an Indian film director, director, actor, playwright and writer. He wrote such plays as ''Final Solutions'', ''Dance Like a Man'', ''Bravely Fought the Queen'', ''On a Muggy Night in Mumbai'', ''Tara: A Pla ...
, and produced by K. Raghavendra Rao under Arka Media Works. It stars
Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...
, Prakash Kovelamudi, Perizaad Zorabian,
Lillete Dubey Lillete Dubey (born 7 September 1953) is an Indian actress and theatre director. She has worked in Indian and international theatre, television and films in Hindi and English languages. Dubey began her career with Barry John in Delhi and was th ...
and Nassar. The film has an extensive use of English dialogue, in addition to the Godavari dialect of Telugu language. The film focuses on three main characters — all Telugu — whose lives have each been ruined by past tragedies and how they are united by circumstance. These three are all connected by a love of music, and through this, the film explores elements of classical Indian
Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...
, the
raga A raga ( ; , ; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. It is central to classical Indian music. Each raga consists of an array of melodic structures with musical motifs; and, fro ...
, and contemporary Indian music. The film was also dubbed into Telugu as ''Ragam''.


Plot

The film begins with a collage of idealised village life in south India, with a Carnatic classical song in the background, being rendered by Swarnalata (
Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...
), the lady of a prosperous land-owning family. Abhinay ( Prakash Kovelamudi) is the youthful son of another affluent landowning family belonging to the same village. His parents are dead, and he is heir to his grandfather (Nasser), who owns extensive farmlands and property. Abhinav is not keen on the life of a landowner. He has grown up in the city and wants to start a music troupe, playing western pop music, which is entirely alien to this society. It is the death anniversary of Abhinav's parents, and his grandfather performs the usual Hindu ceremonies on the riverbank, like every year. This time, after many years, Abhinav is with him. As they arrive at the riverbank, a lady who has just finished performing the same rituals is leaving. This is Swarnalatha, and when she sees a young boy with Nasser, she looks intensely at the young man. Abhinav is intrigued by her look, and after some hesitation, he leaves his grandfather and follows the lady through the village streets. A car suddenly appears and almost crashes into a distracted and careless Abhinav, but swerves away in the nick of time and hits some bushes. This incident causes great and visible trauma to Swarnalatha, who now runs homeward. Abhinav, who has fallen on his face, is unable to follow her further. He meets the driver of the car, the beautiful and strikingly modern city girl Pinky ( Perizaad Zorabian). The car having broken down, Pinky has nowhere to stay in the village; Abhinav takes her home, where his grandfather (Nasser) invites her to stay a few days while her car is repaired. Swarnalatha is a classically trained Carnatic singer who lost her son and best friend, Vaishnavi (Ranjani Ramakrishnan), in a bus accident. The story reopens after 20 years when Vaishnavi's son plans to leave his business of composing jingles with a desire to start a music troupe to compose everlasting music just like the Charminar, and with these plans, he returns to his home. His plan irks his father Nassar, who wants him to look after the ancestral lands in the village. On the Death Anniversary of Vaishnavi, Abhinay spots Swarnalatha and hears her song "Pibare Ramarasam" in the temple. When Swarnalatha leaves the temple, Abhinay stops her, saying, "You knew my mother," and follows her. The duo reach the bridge when a car comes and hits Abhinay, and the car was being driven by Pinky ( Perizaad Zorabian). Swarnalatha screams and reaches her home, with the 20-year-old guilt in her mind that her one step on the bridge caused the accident. Here, the car gets some glitch, and Pinky is compelled to stay for the night in the village. Next morning both Abhinay and Pinky set out for Hyderabad to seek the perfect artists for the proposed troop, and they get a guitarist and a drummer, Balaji Shaleen Sharma. All land up at Pinky's boutique, whose environment irritates Abhinay, but somehow Pinky consoles him and the practices start, with a few opportunities coming their way, but their rock band does not receive the respect as Abhinay had expected. After a few days, Abhinay receives the violin his mother used to play when she was alive. He returns to the village to return the violin to Swarnalatha, saying that both her voice and the sound of the violin are complementary to each other and one cannot exist without one another, and invites her to sing with their troupe, for which she refuses, saying that she won't come to the city, and returns the violin. Swarnalatha's husband asks him to bring his troupe to the house on Ganesh Chaturthi day. The troupe arrives on the said date, and Swarnalatha starts singing "Mahaganapathi Manasa Smarami,"  but stops in between and sings the sophisticated svaram of the song, for which no compatible music could be played. That evening Abhinay again compels Swarnalatha to sing in the city, but she again refuses, and Abhinay ends the communication with the note that she owes him a lot as he is her best friend's son, after all. Next morning Abhinay's father expresses his dislike in his son's musical career in front of Swarnalatha, and at the same time Swarnalatha agrees to sing for Abhinay in the city. She starts from her house with her husband. On the way, their car breaks down, and they are forced to take the bus, which crosses the bridge. Swarnalatha starts screaming, stops the bus, and starts running and falls ill. Both return home and her husband reports that she cannot come for singing. The next day Swarnalatha personally calls Pinky and asks her to learn Carnatic music. Pinky learns carnatic music from Swarnalatha. After a few days, Abhinay plans a concert, though for Pinky to sing, but always urges Swarnalatha to come for singing, but she continues to express her reluctance because she considers the bridge as a punishment for her ambitions. One day, while driving, Pinky gets irked at the repetitive reluctance of Swarnalatha and speeds up the car and crosses the bridge, and Swarna starts screaming, "Stop the car! We all are going to die." Finally, Pinky stops the car and reveals that her father was drunk and was responsible for the accident. The film ends with the concert in which Swarnalatha appears and sings "Thaaye Yashoda" on repeated urging from Pinky, and the concert becomes a 10-week hit.


Cast


Production

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...
was trained intensively in Carnatic music by Ranjani Ramakrishnan before she was allowed to sing during the film. The house used for her character's home is a historic
zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...
country mansion and estate near the village of Kulla in East Godavari district.


Soundtrack


Reception

A critic from ''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
'' wrote that "All is well till the characters start talking. That is when "Morning Raga," Mahesh Dattani, falls flat". A critic from '' Rediff.com'' wrote that "The film is excessively escapist in terms of human emotion, and relies on everybody eventually liking everybody else in the end, and confessing all. Moments of conflict and inner turmoil in Morning Raga are like item numbers, quick and engaging, but utterly disconnected to the rest of the film".


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0419974 2004 films English-language Indian films Films scored by Mani Sharma Films set in Andhra Pradesh Films shot in Andhra Pradesh Films about music and musicians Films about singers Indian musical drama films Films about ideologies 2000s English-language films