New Delhi:
The clash and synthesis of varied musical traditions that Bandish Bandits rode on four years ago are back to power in Season 2 of the Amazon Prime Video show with redoubled force. When it is on song, which, sadly, is not often enough, it is a visual and aural delight.
Ritwik Bhowmik’s Radhe Rathod relocates to Mumbai with the aim of taking his Jodhpur-based family’s classical music legacy forward. Shreya Chaudhry’s Tamanna Sharma enrols herself in a music school in the hills to hone her singing skills.
The relationship between the two young vocalists turns knottier as bitter rivalry displaces the love that they once professed for each other. They struggle to revive their bond but the music that they make never stops. In fact, it acquires a wider range than before.
Does that make the new season of Bandish Bandits better than the first? Not really. Too many sub-plots and hackneyed narrative devices undermine it.
Conflicting legacies, divergent temperaments and varied cultural predilections mingle in a broad-strokes musical that is salvaged significantly by its eclectic soundtrack and a clutch of engaging performances.
Building upon the foundation laid by the opening season, these eight episodes employ singing voices as statements of intent and weapons of ‘war’ as well as in the form of tools for making statements of intent and achieving harmony. The love that was found and lost in Season 1 comes close to being rediscovered as it pans out against the backdrop of a triangle.
While the writing wavers in quality at times, the series created by Amritpal Singh Bindra and director Anand Tiwari finds just enough inspiration in the tradition-versus-modernity construct to rustle up a generally watchable tale.
The season throws up more conflict points as Radhe decides to go against the grain of his Rajasthani gharana in his fight to save its 400-year-old legacy. His family takes on a band representing a Himalayan school in a musical contest. The face-off is anything but novel.
As is often the case with competition-centric dramas about musicians, dancers or athletes, Bandish Bandits S2 is unable to free itself from a predictable groove. The themes of patriarchy, gender parity, loyalty, love, friendship and empowerment are woven into the narrative. Not all of it comes together without the seams sticking out awkwardly.
Following the death of the patriarch Pandit Radhemohan Rathod (Naseeruddin Shah, absent from the S2 cast), the Rathods fall from grace as skeletons come out of the closet. A writer lays bare the seamier side of the deceased musical maestro’s treatment of his family, especially his daughter-in-law Mohini (Sheeba Chaddha).
The Raja of Jodhpur withdraws his patronage and the disciples abandon the family. Radhe discovers opportunity in adversity. He resolves to start over even if that means violating some hoary rules and breaking fresh ground.
Radhe’s mother Mohini comes out of the shell imposed upon her by her father-in-law, and returns to the public domain in the company of Digvijay (Atul Kulkarni), the man who believes he is Panditji’s rightful successor. Mohini is encouraged by her husband Rajendra Rathod (Rajesh Tailang) to find her voice.
Rajendra, on his part, is gnawed by pangs of guilt and resentment. When Mohini takes a life-altering decision at the behest of her son, Digvijay tries to stop her by reminding of her responsibility towards the family legacy. This gharana was never mine, “gharane toh mardon ke hote hain,” she laments.
In Kasauli, a modern music teacher Nandini (Divya Dutta, an addition to the cast) grooms a group of handpicked pupils, including Tamanna. She is a hard taskmaster with a back story that threatens to scuttle the band.
Nandini opts for Soumya (Yashaswini Dayama) as the band’s lead singer and picks Tamanna as one of back-up vocals, paving the way for misunderstandings. Rivalries, recriminations, regrets and retractions come to the fore as the two girls compete with each other for control of the music that the band makes.
Beyond the music, Tamanna has a now-on, now-off relationship with drummer and lyricist Ayaan (Rohan Gurbaxani). The ups and downs of the affair, aggravated by the return of Radhe into Tamanna’s orbit, begin to rub off on the fortunes of the band.
The occasional emotional depth that the show achieves stems from complex, if not always convincing, emotional arcs as Radhe and Tamanna seek to reconnect as Ayaan hovers over them with intent. The pitch is queered further as data analysis and mathematics make an entry into the domain of music in the form of a new member of the Rathod gharana’s support team, Ananya (Aaliyah Qureishi).
The music of Bandit Bandish S2 – one pivotal number is drawn from what Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composed for Season 1 – is undeniably brilliant but the plotting is not. It loses a fair bit of steam as the show enters the ‘championship’ phase in which the musicians gear up to prove themselves under the glare of the spotlight.
Before the show moves towards a crescendo, the Rathod’s path crosses that of Mahi (Paresh Pahuja), a Mumbai-based fusion band frontman who plays an “electric” sitar and makes a distinction between the work he does “for the soul” and the output he produces “for the kitchen”.
Radhe does not see eye to eye with Mahi, who asserts that rock is about rebellion, about challenging convention. But the upending of traditions and expectations is what almost everybody in Bandish Bandits S2, led by the quietly rebellious and assertive Mohini Rathod, seeks to do.
Their acts of defiance and daring set a pattern that the show follows right until the end. Music is a binding force as much as it is a pursuit that liberates several sets of characters across two generations. Arjun Rampal puts in a brief appearance as a music school alum whose history appears to be repeating itself in Tamanna and Ayaan’s experiences on and off the campus.
This story of seeking and snatching victory when defeat and disappointment stare one in the face is enlivened by the impressive performances. The seasoned members of the cast (Richa Chaddha, Divya Dutta, Atul Kulkarni, Rajesh Tailang) lift the show well above the ordinary.
It redounds to the credit of the director and the writers that the leads (Shreya Chaudhry and Ritwik Bhowmik) and all the other actors playing the eager-beaver greenhorns deliver turns that are strikingly competent. Kunaal Roy Kapoor has far less to do this time around.
Bandish Bandits S2 is never off-key. That is the least one would expect from a show that celebrates music. If only it had hit the higher notes with greater frequency and consistency, it would have been an absolute banger.
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