Web Review: Bandish Bandits 2 ups the ante, except for the music!

December 26, 2024

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Shreya Chaudhary and Ritwik Bhowmik in Bandish Bandits 2. Photo: Trailer Video Grab

When a series goes higher than its previous season, it is cause to celebrate. The musical, Bandish Bandits, was one of the highlights of 2020 and was an excellent look at the clash and possible meeting-place between traditional Indian music and what is popular among today’s generation. With this as the core, it also examined the plus and minus points of both schools, the psychological rigidity in both and the pros and cons of fusion, both as commercial and artistic entities.

Bandish Bandits did all this against the core story of family emotions, based essentially on the lineage of Radhemohan Rathod (Naseeruddin Shah), a giant composer, singer and music teacher who heads the classical Rathod Gharana. There was some intrigue too, with Digvijay Rathod (Atul Kulkarni) being in the Trishul-like mode of Amitabh Bachchan, who is abandoned by the maestro and is stepbrother to Radhemohan’s ‘legal’ family.

Radhemohan has also decreed that within his family, including his son Rajendra (Rajesh Tailang), Rajendra’s wife Mohini (Sheeba Chaddha) and others, that Rajendra’s and Mohini’s son Radhemohan Jr. a.k.a. Radhe (Ritwik Bhowmik), is his musical heir.

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Radhe’s romantic relationships added to the interest, with his objet d’amor Tamanna Sharma (Shreya Chaudhary) coming from a diverse school. In the first season’s end, Tamanna has distanced herself from Radhe, realizing her musical shortcomings, and joined a training school for Western music. Now the senior Radhemohan is no more, and due to various upheavals, the Rathod Gharana is ostracized by the local royalty. Through moving into a commercial zone of a ‘India Band Championship’, Radhe vows to regain the prestige of his clan.

All this leads to meeting up with Tamanna again, and quite naturally, as the Rathod Gharana comes into the competitive contest, there is a clash between two youngsters from opposite schools whose romance is rekindled.

The series looks realistically at a lot of issues. Even as it highlights the intricacies of Indian classical music, it makes a case for their opening up their elitist stance and junking some of their pet dogmas that act as shackles for their progress and wider acceptance with a broader audience despite their purity and substance.

At the same time, it also shows that pop is not all about piffle but has its own artistic base and needs similar dedication. When a key character, Mahi (Paresh Pahuja) scoffs at Radhe for his obsessions and fixed beliefs, he isn’t ridiculing tradition but only pointing out at certain fixations that are limiting it from being heard by all.

Alongside comes the saga of romantic souls in turmoil—the Western music teacher Nandini (Divya Dutta) and her ex (Arjun Rampal in a cameo), Ayaan (Rohan Gurbaxami)’s turbulent relationship with Tamanna, Tamanna’s see-saw between Ayaan and Radhe, and even Ananya (Aaliyah Qureshi)’s liking for Radhe. Mahi’s and Radhe’s conflict and also a pre-climax tension for both the pop band of which Tamanna is a part and the Gharana’s special quandary when an angry Digvijay corners them over a copyright issue, are highlights and the latter leads to a shocking yet heartwarming revelation!

Anand Tiwari as director and co-writer thus ups the ante and even makes the pace brisker and the drama enhanced, while the musical research is as good if not more detailed than in the earlier season. He gets terrific support from his co-writers and technical crew, but there is a specific and sadly vital area where Season 2 falls short: in the music! Unlike Season 1, none of the songs have musical or lyrical excellence and almost all are forgotten after they are over!

Had it not been for the dramatic upswings, the series could have suffered seriously. Thankfully, the plot rescues the series from losing a lot of steam because of the assets, which include a string of fantastic performances. To give visual veracity via their enactment to classical as well as pop renditions is no cakewalk and the actors ace it all the way.

Topping them all are the quartet of Ritwik Bhowmik, Sheeba Chaddha, Shreya Chaudhary and Divya Dutta (as the cool-as-cucumber Nandini with all her emotions at explosion point within yet forever in check). Sheeba is superb as always but this role is probably the most challenging of her career. Ritwik and Shreya are more nuanced this time over.

Yashaswini Dayama as Soumya the lead pop singer, Atul Kulkarni, Paresh Pahuja, Rohan Gurbaxani, Rajesh Tailang and Aaliyah Qureshi are superb and Kunal Roy Kapoor is getting better with each assignment. The others are all effective with special marks going to Saurabh Nayyar as Radhe’s uncle, Sanchi Mannotra as Nidhi and Rahul Kumar as Kabir.

It’s a no-brainer really: we cannot miss this one. Which, when you ruminate upon it, is incredible as it is a musical with very average music, both on the classical and pop side.

Rating: ****

Amazon Prime Video presents Still & Still Moving Pictures’ Bandish Bandits 2 Directed by: Anand Tiwari Written by: Anand Tiwari, Amritpal Singh Bindra, Lara Chandni, Chandra Goyal, Sayanta Manna, Atmika Didwania, Hussain Haidry, Karan Singh, Tyagi, Sejal Pachisia & Digant Patil Music: Ana Rehman, Digvijay Singh Pariyar, OAFF, Savera, Siddharth Pandit & Souumil Shringarpure Starring: Ritwik Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhary, Divya Dutta, Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Aaliyah Qureshi, Paresh Pahuja, Rohan Gurbaxani, Sanchi Mannotra, Saurabh Nayyar, Aaliyah Qureshi, Yashaswini Dayama, Karan Chitra Deshmukh, Meghna Malik, Rahul Kumar & others Sp. App.: Arjun Rampal

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