Amazon Prime’s new web series Bandish Bandits is a tribute to Indian classical music that stands steadfast against the pop culture. Every major character in the series wants to save someone or something but the onus is on Naseeruddin Shah to carry the role of a conservative Rajasthani Sangeet Sartaj (King of Music) whose sole purpose is to safeguard the musical legacy of his gharana.
An unlikely romance between a pop singer and a hardworking musical prodigy threatens to shatter both their dreams in the garb of popularity. The 10-episode series is a rollercoaster ride with soulful music tugging your heartstrings every 15-minutes per episode. The cast, Naseeruddin Shah, Sheeba Chaddha and Atul Kulkarni sometimes overshadowed Shreya Chowdhary and Ritwik Bhowmik. The musical scores along with showing the disparity between pop music and classical Indian music also showed what a fusion could do.
Though Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s, fusion of Indian classical with peppy electronic rhythms is all the hype in the fictional world of Bandish Bandits, the song itself isn’t as solid. However, the classical vocalists with their Bandish and Thumris mostly make up for it.
Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty (Garaj Garaj) , Mame Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, Dhananjay Mhaskar to Javed Ali, Shivam Mahadevan and Jonita Gandhi add a musical treasure to an otherwise weak show.
The series show the ever-continuing conflict between the two musical schools as represented by a pair of young singers. Though it might not seem that way initially, but Bandish Bandits is a story of star-crossed lovers that represents traditionality and modernity in both music and lifestyle. The visual aesthetic of the Haveli and Jodhpur city adds to the intensity of the conflict.
Intrinsically, Bandish Bandit also deals with much stronger themes such as the orthodox approach of traditional families in dealing with legacies. This is represented by Sheeba Chaddha with her character Mohini who plays a much more significant role towards the end of the show than in the beginning. The sheer discrimination on the basis of gender, the selfishness of a musical king and the financial struggles that even the family of a proclaimed artist faces are beautifully woven into the story.
The writing and the plot of the show is weak at places but is compensated by the emotional performances of the actors. The show has its fair share of plot twists to keep it engaging and it is definitely worth a binge-watch.
