A tale of love, music, fate and passion, Bandish Bandits is a 10-part Amazon Prime Indian original series that features a host of versatile actors, Ritwick Bhowmick, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajesh Tailang, Tridha Chowdhary, Shreya Chaudhary and many more. These stars come together over the course of several weeks, creating magic and blessing our screens with mesmerizing stories, filled with intrigue and suspense.
The first few episodes of this series centers around two protagonists Tamanna, played by talented actress Shreya Chaudhary and Radhe, excellently portrayed by actor Ritwick Bhowmick. From two different worlds, the two protagonists find each other by pure serendipity. Radhe was brought up by his grandfather; Radhemohan Rathod (Naseeruddin Shah), a strong believer in Parampara, Pratishtha aur Anushasan and has spent 21 years of his life dedicated to the cause.
He sees in his son – Radhe – a worthy successor to take up his title as odhpur Sangeet Samrat. Panditji, as he is fondly called throughout the series, is a perfect example of a disciplined teacher. He shows this at several instances as the story unfolds.
In one instance, Radhemohan Rathod throws out a student from his singing class for unconsciously singing with falsetto. His personality is established throughout the series as one who isn’t known to offer preferential treatment to anyone including his grandson Radhe, who we would come to learn, sat in the back row in the class. Radhe has to slowly but steadily climb the ranks in class to earn a spot at the top.
Along comes Tamanna, a pop singer and a fast rising YouTube sensation. Tamanna journeys to Rajasthan in search of new and diverse music. Radhe begins making music, albeit as a result of his desire to save the finances of his family than for the love of fusion music. The blend of music from Tamanna and Radhe becomes a clash between traditional and modern music.
This series also displays the beauty and dynamics of Hindustani classical music. As time goes on, we hear the various singers in the series differentiate between a madhyam sur and a teevra.
One twist that heightens the plot is when a triangle ensues as the plot thickens. Radhe is set to marry the daughter of the prince of Jodhpur (Dilip Shankar), played by Tridha Choudhury. Radhe is against the marriage because he has fallen in love with Tamanna. This love triangle is played on for a few episodes, after which it is dissolved.
Directed by Anand Tiwari, Bandish Bandits is a musical combination of patriarchy and chauvinism, female tales of oppression and a sequence of confused masculinity. The music-induced romance is soon halted to reveal another twist; the return of Radhemohan’s lost son, Digvijay played by Atul Kulkarni. Viewers are soon made to understand Digvijay is Radhemohan’s only son which he had with his first wife, who he later abandoned in Bikaner when he traveled to Jodhpur to start a new family.
With the constant need to rekindle interest in classical music and the new balance set between classical and modern music, Bandish Bandits is a clear representation of this balance and it portrays the fact so keenly. Viewers will be delighted to enjoy the blend of modern music and the classics which are naturally and creatively advocated in the series.
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