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Here is a new offering for December Season 2008.
A complete Carnatic kutcheri as cinema.
And it stars T. M. Krishna and Bombay Jayashri in concert.
On Tuesday, November 11, at the plush Six Degrees movie screen at
Sathyam Cinema, Chennai city's most happening cinema multiplex, the
media and guests got a very brief introduction to what is surely a
new concept in the Carnatic music world.
That is, screening a full length concert film which has been
produced using the best and latest technology.
To be released at a Sathyam theatre on December 18 to time it with
the 'season', the film will then be released across the world, be
made available on Blu Ray discs and later as DVD too.
But it is the cinema experience that its creators want to bring to
you.
The idea is of two people - P. Jayendra and C. Srikanth.
Jayendra is well known in the ad and film world and has made Real
Image and JS Films the destination for many key productions.
Srikanth is a stock broker who loves music and cinema.
Though the duo has been "rasikas on the periphery" at the sabhas in
Mylapore they often wondered about taking the kutcheri to a
different "evocative" level. That is how this film titled 'Margazhi
Raagam' came to be produced.
They may have been periphery rasikas but clearly they must have been
frustrated by the dowdy sabha atmosphere and the archaic sound
systems that are employed for concerts.
At Tuesday's tidbit preview, the film provided a stunningly
different experience. As vocalist Bombay Jayashri said, "It was a
different experience for us but we are grateful to Jayendra for
having us on this project."
The film was shot in a new, designed hall - Sir Mutha Venkata Subha
Rao Hall on Harrington Road in Chetput using 7 high definition RED
cameras ( the first anywhere in the world) and employing some of the
best professionals in the film and audio field. People like
cinematographer P. C. Sreeram and audiographer H. Sridhar ( both
have won National awards for their films).
Says T. M. Krishna, "The cameras looked like robots in front of us
but we came to the hall keen to have fun by doing a great concert
but I never expected this kind of result."
Member of Parliament Kanimozhi ( Tamil Nadu chief minister M.
Karunanidhi's daughter) who was a special invitee said that this
film could provide a great experience.
The lighting is great and it creates the mood for each song (nobody
wanted to reveal the name of the songs in the concert!), the shots
draw the concert platform close to you as much as you feel and see
the artistes close-up and the sound ( live capture mixed in 5.1 digi
surround sound) in the RDX ( digital projection) fitted theatre is
great.
But the challenge next for the producers (Aghal Films and Real
Image) is to get lots of people to see the film. Krishna says it
will be great if the 'non-rasika' is curious and buy tickets to see
the film. Jayendra hopes the film can take kutcheris to a bigger
audience here and across the world.
They will know the trend in mid December as the 'season' in this
south Indian city unfolds. Tan Ngaronga, COO, Satyam Cinemas says
that alternative content now has audiences even in India and hopes
film goers will check out 'Raagam' at his theatre.
The film features a 110 minute concert and the accompanists for the
two vocalists are Embar S Kannnan (violin), Patri Satish Kumar (mridangam)
and Chaitrra Prasanna and Keerthna V Nath (tambura for Jayashri and
R. K. Shriram Kumar (violin), K. Arun Prakash (mridangam), B. S.
Purushotham (kanjira) and Emmanuelle Martin and Rithvik Raja (tambura)
for T. M. Krishna.
You can see a brief trailer of the film at www.margazhiraagam.com
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