The second season of the Prime Video series Bandish Bandits opens in Jodhpur, three months after Radhe (Ritwik Bhowmik) has been crowned Sangeet Samrat. In the previous season, battle lines were drawn between rival gharanas represented by Radhe and his grandfather Radhemohan (Naseeruddin Shah) on the one side and Radhemohan’s estranged son Digvijay (Atul Kulkarni) on the other.
With the passing of the patriarch, the responsibility for the Rathod gharana rests on Radhe’s shoulders. Radhe is also contending with new and confusing feelings after Tammana (Shreya Chaudhry) walks away from their fusion band Bandish Bandits, and her relationship with him, to find her own voice.
Season two fittingly takes forward the transformation of these two young singers – one a disciplined, small-town Hindustani classical singer and the other an urban pop star. In the new eight-part edition, conflicts continue – between tradition and modernity, and the two gharanas.
Radhe has to contend with carrying on a legacy in an era of cancel culture. Tammana enrolls in a music school where the tutoring by Nalini (Divya Dutta) involves esoteric concepts rather than music lessons. How does an active singer step out of the spotlight and humbly take a place in the backing line-up, put her band before herself?
Radhe too learns many truths. Among them is his grandfather’s backstory, an acceptance of the need to make classical music relevant without forsaking tradition and respect, and the discomfort of an undulating love story.
Radhe and Tammana’s vocal and romantic discord hits a crescendo when their respective bands compete in a televised contest in Jaipur. The competition dominates a large part of the series, with drama unfolding on and off-stage. A subtext is of patriarchal conventions and gender inequality in gharanas.
The stage shows are impressive in production and scale. The cinematography and editing too energetically capture the performances , which are unfortunately lipsynched. (Ironic, considering that a popular musician schools Radhe on the trend of lip sync performances.)
To their credit, Bhowmik, Kulkarni, Rajesh Tailang, as Radhe’s father Rajendra, and Sheeba Chadha, as Radhe’s mother Mohini, do well in matching the vocal patterns of the ragas and alaaps.
Radhe’s trajectory is more well-rounded compared to the once-confident performer Tammana, who is now a whimpering and obedient student going through a rite of passage. Like co-star Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhry slips back into her character but her lip sync abilities are still inconsistent.
The first playback voice given to her doesn’t suit her at all either, though the later singing voice fits better. Fortunately, the lead pair convey the chemistry and unease of estranged lovers turned rivals well enough to overlook these niggles.
Kunaal Roy Kapur is super fun as the supportive and steadfast talent manager Arghya. Rohan Gurbaxani, Yashaswini Dayama and Aaliyah Qureshi play supporting roles. The musicscape juxtaposes and blends classical and contemporary musical practices, aiming to prove that the classical practice can be mainstreamed too.
Under Anand Tiwari’s controlled and sensitive direction, the Rathod family members, along with Radhe’s uncle Devendra (Saurabh Nayyar), coalesce well, much like the composition and collaboration they speak of in the context of classical music. The strength of the show, created by Amritpal Singh Bindra and Anand Tiwari and written by Atmika Didwania, Karan Singh Tyagi, Lara Chandni and Tiwari, rests on the commitment to capturing the nuances and traditions associated with classical music.
Also read:
‘Bandish Bandits’ review: Musical battles rages in web series about a gharana and a house divided
