'Margazhi Raagam' is a two-hour Carnatic performance in the form of a film

In a darkened hall, Carnatic wizards TM Krishna and Bombay Jayashri are singing their hearts out. They do two capella pieces — pure music so brilliant that the audience bursts into loud applause and wah wah. But Krishna and Jayashri carry on as if they don't hear the applause. In fact they don't. They just happen to star in India's first two-hour concert movie, Margazhi Raagam.

After running for 45 days in a Chennai multiplex, Margazhi Raagam is doing the rounds of theatres in the country and abroad. It will play in the city for three days, starting April 10. It has just debuted in Sydney, and will open in the US in April. With the DVD release in June, director Jayendra says the producers will have recovered their costs.

Okay, so at a budget of Rs1 crore and one-multiplex shows, this film does not quite qualify as a Bollywood or Chennai potboiler. But it is a trailblazer and as an experiment, an unqualified success. You may have caught the Indian Ocean tour movie on the indie circuit, and there are all the opera movies from the West. But this is the first time an entire concert has been filmed exclusively to fit the movie format.

Indian classical music concerts are not visually appealing, and most regulars keep their eyes closed to soak in the sounds better.
Margazhi, with PC Sriram’s magical camera work, changed this, if only for two hours. “A music lover told me this was the first time he listened to a Carnatic concert with his eyes open,” quips Krishna. “The whole business of creating music is personal, and it is up there for all to see, in painstaking detail.”

If you are used to the typical classical concert format, the first few minutes of the film might be unsettling. Your attention gets caught up in the bright shades of Jayashri's saris, or the way a vein in Krishna's neck strains with the high notes, rather than the music itself. But once you settle into the movie, the visual elements stop intruding and actually open a door to the artiste's inner world. There are no Mile sur mera tumhara moments in the film — the two artistes are seated cross-legged on a stage for the entire two hours, with accompanists around them. And they stick to the repertoire of a conservative Carnatic concert, without looking for a theme to hook the audience. This might sound like a ready recipe for tedium for those who are not classical fanatics. But the sound technology — engineered by AR Rahman’s protege Sridhar, who passed away just before the film's release — actually enhances the way you hear the music. The music is captured in a six-track environment so clear you can even hear the murmur of approval between the musicians. There is, in fact, nothing between the singers and the listeners because the technology, far from distracting, only enhances the listening. 

There are a few cinematic concessions allowed for aesthetic sense: The clothes of all the musicians are colour-coordinated and the stage has an aesthetic backdrop quite unlike that of actual concerts, with their sponsors’  banners and mandatory flower garlands. And the lighting, at all times, is picture perfect.

The film’s achievement is that even if you are not a Carnatic music buff, it holds yor attention for two hours. “My fundamental reason for making the film was not to appeal to classical music lovers. They would come to listen anyway, no matter what format we present the music in. I wanted to hook music lovers who are standing on the outside, wondering what Carnatic music is all about, but too intimidated by the austere, take-it-or-leave-it air surrounding it, to step in,” says Jayendra.

Despite this, the director says he was surpised to see that the audience pouring into the theatres  every day for the film, were not the greying regulars of the music sabhas circuit.  “At 9pm, after the second show, I would get a call from someone or the other every day with feedback, and often it would be a teenager or a young person,” Jayendra says. “If this is Carnatic music we want to hear more, was a common response from many viewers.”

It’s possible an experiment like ths would succeed better in a city like Chennai, which  has many takers for classical concerts. It may be hard to imagine a two-hour film on a Hindustani classical recital making a similar impact in Mumbai or Delhi. But Krishna says you would be surprised at people’s responses. He and Jayashri sang the regular concert items, from the serious and elaborate Pallavi, to the romantic Javali — to surprising response.

“I thought people would only enjoy what the purist would consider the more appealing items. But the Neelambari I sang in all its purity and detail, was a favourite with many viewers. It just shows how caught up we are in these stereotypes and barriers about the listener's intelligence,” he adds.