An evening of ragas

Music has always been cinemas invisible character the one that moves the story forward without a word. On Sunday evening at Bharat Kalakshetra, it stepped into the spotlight. Manabendra Smaraney, a collective formed to pay tribute to the legendary maestro Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, conceptualised Raag, Roop aur Rang, an event where film songs based on classical ragas are performed by an ensemble. This edition welcomed Pt Ajoy Chakraborty for the second time to perform with his students from Shrutinandan, a Kolkata-based music institution. The evening aimed to dissolve the borders between Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. TNIE was the media partner. The concert began with a short audio-visual presentation of an original song, Ek Jaadu Ka Ped (The Magical Tree), composed by the Shrutinandan team. It imagined a tree where birds from every corner of the world arrive, each tasting fruits of different kinds, and learning new songs in the process. Thats what Shrutinandan is, the magical tree, Ananjan Chakraborty, Ajoys son, who is also a music composer and a sound engineer, explained about the AV, establishing the idea of music as a shared language. Taking the stage soon after, Ajoy reminded the audience that Indian music, at its core, is indivisible. This is a pure Indian raga musical programme. Of course, Indian raga music is the highest form of music in the whole world, Ajoy said, setting the tone. Before beginning a composition, he broke down its swaras , explained the nuances of the raga , and offered an aalap to illustrate its mood. He sought to demonstrate why raga remains central to Indias musical heritage. He added that earlier masters, despite their greatness, did not always articulate this fact to wider audiences. At that time, communication and the Internet were not so popular, so they could not express what exactly Indian music is. Pt Ajoy Chakraborty Throughout the concert, Ajoy rendered Hindi, Bengali and Tamil film compositions, each anchoring different ragas. The renditions moved fluidly across regions and genres: Hamsadhwani segued into Yaman and lastly to Keeravani . The songs based on raga are the purest form of film music, whether it is in Tamil, Hindi, or Bengali, Ajoy claimed. AR Rahmans Malargal Ketten from O Kadhal Kanmani shared space with Ilaiyaraajas Janani Janani from Thaai Mookaambikai and Isaiyil Thodanguthamma from Hey Ram; Bengali songs like Manabendra Mukherjees Kuhu Kuhu Koyeliya and Rabindranath Tagores Maharajo Eki Saje were woven alongside Hindi classics like Lata Mangeshkars Tere Sur Aur Mere Geet . The fan-requested Tamil songs between Bengali renditions ensured there was something for everyone. The audience responded instinctively nodding their heads, clapping talams on their laps, and quietly singing along to familiar lyrics. The event also underlined Shrutinandans philosophy. Founded by Ajoy in Kolkata, the institutions syllabus departs from the Guru-Shishya tradition by introducing scientific training methods to support improvisation. Without raga training, your improvisational process gets stuck. Shrutinandan teaches how to build a raga , how to compose within it, and how to take students beyond the Guru. Because the next generation must go ahead of me, he said. When asked about his collaboration with Carnatic artistes and the city, Ajoy said, Chennai is in a very traditional and very respectable position in the globe, and in India. The world knows Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman. So when you present a programme here, it is like presenting it to the whole world. He also reflected on his decades-long collaborations with Carnatic stalwarts M Balamuralikrishna, TN Seshagopalan, Maharajapuram Santhanam, MS Gopalakrishnan, Lalgudi Jayaraman positioning himself as a bridge across traditions. The finale belonged to Ananjan. His composition unfolded against a pre-recorded track of the Budapest Orchestra, while the singers delivered the vocals live. The stage lights dimmed, the orchestras layered sound filled the hall, and the singers voices cut through with clarity. It was both cinematic and intimate, closing on a note that merged global collaboration with rooted Indian melody.