Mellifluous Melody for the Mind. Review on Morning Raga

''Morning Raga'', the 2nd movie directed by Mahesh Dattani, brings out the real talent in him to the masses. It shows a finer director than we saw in ''Mango Souffle'', but lets not compare the two now.

Rajeev Menon welcomes you into the movie with some remarkable cinematography. The way the countryside and its beauty has been captured by him is amazing. The first few scenes just put you in awe of all the beauty of the Andhra village, with lush greenery and absolute simplicity.

The movie stars Shabana Azmi as Swarnalata,a Carnatic Singer, Prakash Rao as Abhinay, a city boy, been away from the village for 20 years and a talented musician aspiring for greatness, and Perizaad Zorabian, as Pinky/Priyanka, also a city girl, daughter of a boutique owner(Lilette Dubey).

All of these are weighed down by memories and grief coming out of an accident occurred 20 years ago.

Abhinay is the son of Swarnalata's friend, who died in the accident, as did Swarnalata's son. Swarnalata blames herself, for it is she who had implored her friend, a violinist, to accompany her at a concert in the city. And the bus that she, her friend and their sons are traveling in, meets with an accident. It leaves her terrified of going over the bridge where the accident took place.

Abhinay meets Pinky in his village, who's gone there to exorcise some painful memories. Pinky is a singer and starts a music group with Abhinay. (Perizaad seems unconvincing as a singer as well as about the grief)

Their quest for other members brings some humour into the film. The group, though fair, is quite lacklustre. So in the pursuit for being unique, Abhinay asks Swarnalata to have a few sessions of jazz-raga with his troupe.

The display of emotion is quite subtle through most of the places and quite blatant at a point or two. You feel a certain disconnect in the flow at times. Especially the budding of romance between the two could've been shown effectively. Must say, there's a certain lack of chemistry between Prakash and Perizaad.

But Shabana Azmi's performance carries the film through very effectively. Watch her while she's performing the Sargam. Perfect Lip-Sync, Perfect body movement. She's really the best!!!

As for the music. A good job there. A lot of emphasis on the Jazz, and little on Carnatic. But the Thaye Yashoda at the end is a masterpiece. The music scores a straight A+. There is a smattering of humour too in the film, Good, not the kind that distracts you from the main theme.

Most Remarkable moments: 3 scenes of Shabana's outbursts on the bridge. Abhinay's confrontation with Swarnalata to get her to sing with him is remarkable but could've been done better. All in all, it is a really good movie worth spending 2 & ½ hours, at least once.

Go to watch Shabana for sure.