MUMBAI: Amalgamating Indian classical music with genres of music from across the world, ‘7 Notes to Infinity’ - a 60-minute documentary will premiere on the eve of World Music Day on 20 June in Thiruvananthapuram.

Directed by Shrenik Rao, the documentary blends Indian classical music with music forms like opera, blue and jazz and explores infinite compositions created with the aid of seven musical notes - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni.

Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Rao said, “The documentary reflects and is inspired by the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which says ‘Music is the universal language of mankind’. Through this film, I tried to look into the universality of music from the perspective of Indian classical music. I tried to juxtapose Indian classical music with other forms of world music like Chinese, western, Jazz etc. It was like an exploratory voyage into the world of music.”

The film features six lyrical compositions by renowned musicians including M Balamuralikrishna, TV Gopalakrishnan, AT Rama Varma, Amrutha Venkatesh and a group of children. 

When quizzed on the cause of making the documentary,  Rao said, “After witnessing a docu-series of Martin Scorsese, I tried to research whether there are any documentaries on Indian classical music but sadly there weren’t many. An idea emerged to come up with a documentary that focuses on a system of music and things started to fall into place when I met AT Rama Varma.”

Produced by 7 Media Broadcasting Pvt Ltd, the film is slated to premiere in 10 cities across India. Apart from the theatrical release, the film will also be screened in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, Cornell University, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The film will also be released in physical and digital formats.

Rao is founder and creative director of Dolsun Media Ltd, which was established in 2005. His first project under the banner includes 'Denied-This Bit of Truth', a documentary which tries to explore the interlinked complexities of the political and economic situation in Zimbabwe.