I liked PANCHAYAT ( Amazon Prine) and recommended people to watch it. And if you di like it, most probably you will love the Amazon Prime 10 episode series BANDISH BANDITS streaming on Amazon Prime Video. After a lot of action- spy-police-mafia-dark dramas, it is like fresh air. And unless you are addicted to action with no space for some silly love and passion, you will like Bandish Bandits.
It is slow, but it is engaging, and once you are through two episodes, you start liking the different setup.
Bandish means restriction. Bandits imagery is about someone stealing in style. Bandish Bandits is the story of Tamanna, a pop star, and Radhe, a classical music prodigy in Jodhpur meeting up and falling in love. Radhe’s grandfather, Pandit Radhe Mohan Rathod, is a celebrated singer. He has been winning the Jodhpur Sangeet Samrat title for last many years. He is a strict disciplinarian and the lighthouse of Rathod Gharana. And here is where the Bandish creeps in. Pandit Rathod would not allow anyone from Rathod Garana to mic with light music, film or pop music. He is the traditional puritan.
With hardly much income and Panditjee style of not taking money or doing shows, the family of three generations is finding it tough to manage. Radhe’s father lands with a bank loan that he is unable to pay.
Radhe wants to be declared the successor of Panditjee, and for it, he is willing to leave everything, but then he meets Tamanna and falls in love. From then onwards, he is in a classical fix. He has to continuously strain against the implied Bandish of Rathod Gharana.
Radhe dreams of winning his grandfather’s approval, while his father sends him off to work.
The characters are stereotyped, and at times the language is not really the language you expect. Someone has been lax in the dialogue departments. It tells you how strong the stereotypes are and how much the choice of platforms can impact writing. It is OTT, and that stereotypes sexual tonality and use of slangs in the series. That could have been avoided.
‘Bandish Bandits’ is slow and has faults. But then which production at this level is perfect. This lack of perfection is something that is best left to critics to probe and complain. From an audience point of view, they do not seem to matter as the story progresses and keeps you in the frame.
Naseeruddin Shah as Panditji does hold the show. Atul Kulkarni as Digvijay is ok, and maybe in season-2, he will have a larger scope. Shreya Chaudhary is pretty as Tamanna and at times shows a spark. Ritwik Bhowmik Radhe holds the whole series together. He is brilliant, and I personally loved his performance. Another role that is always under the shadow but portrayed superbly is Radhe’s uncle played by Amit Mistry.
I will definitely watch season-2, and that tells you that BANDISH BANDITS is a recommended series to watch. Even if it is for a change- as we have a series based on Classical Music.
Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Rivik Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhary, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang, Amit Mistry, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Rahul Kumar Directed by Anand Tiwari
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