Morning Raga (PG)
- Consumer Advice: Contains mild language and crash scene
- Run time: 1 hour 33 mins
- Genre: Drama
- Release date: 15th April 2005
- Starring: Shabana Azmi, Prakash Rao, Perizaad Zorabian
- Directed by: Mahesh Dattani
- Distributor: Tip Top Entertainment
Plot Synopsis
Raga: noun (in Indian music) a pattern of notes having characteristic intervals, rhythms and embellishments, used as a basis for improvisation. From Sanskrit, literally 'colour, musical tone.' Traditionally each raga has a specific time of day or a season when it is sung. Morning ragas are usually sung to wake the Gods.
Carnatic: adjective. Of or denoting the main style of classical music in Southern India, as distinct from the Hindustani music of Northern India.
Men, women and children in an South Indian village are filled with excitement at their journey into the city, oblivious to the tragedy that is about to befall upon them. An accident that leaves many villagers coping with the loss of loved ones.
Morning Raga is the story of three such lives inextricably linked by this tragedy in the past and how they come to terms with their loss by a strong uniting force – music.
Swarnalatha was a talented singer with a burning ambition to perform in the city. She lost her child and her best friend in the accident that fateful morning. She believes that she is cursed and holds herself responsible for the tragedy. She now spends her time in a self-imposed exile never daring to cross the bridge to the city ever.
Abhinay who lost his mother in the accident was a child when the tragedy struck his life. Not satisfied with his job in the city he sets out to start a music band. But he knows something is missing in his music and he constantly strives to find that missing ‘note.’
Priyanka (Pinkie) a young urban girl finds herself drawn to the same village as she is also affected by the tragedy and discovers an unfortunate truth about the accident. With her mother's support, she wants to redeem herself by helping the villagers. Her relationship with her mother takes on a new dimension in the process.
Pinkie helps Abhinay to start a group together but they are disappointed by the lukewarm response to their music. Abhinay returns to his village and discovers Swarnalatha’s singing voice. He realizes that the missing element in his music is present in her singing. He must have Swarnalatha to accomplish his music. But Swarnalatha who holds herself and her ambitions responsible for the tragedy will not sing in public, although she wants the young couple to succeed.
Can the three of them succeed in overcoming their demons from the past and move ahead? Morning Raga is about the meeting of worlds. It is a story that brings the modern and traditional together, unites the past with present, Carnatic music with Western music, the comic with the tragic, fate and coincidence with individual choices. It is a story of our times where our worlds are interacting with each other.