Bandish Bandits has been directed by Anand Tiwari. (Photo: Amazon Prime Video/Twitter)
Bandish Bandits is finally streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The web series stars Ritwik Bhowmik, Shreya Chaudhry, Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Roy Kapur, Sheeba Chaddha and Rajesh Tailang. The show revolves around Radhe, a classical performer, and popstar Tamanna. It follows with their budding romance as they collaborate professionally and the conflicts that arise from their union. The 10-part romantic-drama has been directed by Anand Tiwari of Love Per Square Foot fame. It has been produced and created by Amritpal Singh Bindra, known for YRF web series Bang Baaja Baaraat. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy are also making their digital debut with Bandish Bandits.
The trailer of Bandish Bandits released on Naseeruddin Shah’s 70th birthday on July 20. Shah is seen as a patriarch and a celebrated Hindustani classical musician from Rajasthan in the show. He is also the grandfather to the young Radhe. Speaking about the web series, Ritwik told indianexpress.com, “It is about relationship dynamics, art vs exhibitionism, mediocrity vs genius among other things. The trailer is just one-tenth of the show.” Shreya also shared what drew her to the script. She said, “The script chose me. I was immediately sold when I came to know about the director and the cast. And things got even better when I read it. Tamannah is very different from Shreya, so that was exciting. Moreover, this is a romantic show woven around music and that aspect was very fresh for me.”
Speaking on how they developed their characters, Shreya told indianexpress.com that she did not refer to any one pop singer, instead watched a few legends perform on stage and added her own elements to Tamannah. Ritwik, on his part, added, “There were 10 blueprints that I had to go through in order to get Radhe right. It took time to understand him as he is very far off from who I am in my life.”
"At its best, the series surrenders to the beauty and complexity of Hindustani classical music, as we hear the singers differentiate between a ‘teevra’ and ‘madhyam sur’, Shah building a lovely alaap, an old pupil (Kulkarni) who shows up half-way, and who has smartly learnt how to contemporise his classical talents, fire off rapid-paced ‘taans’. We also see the arcs of the other members of Panditji’s family, older beta Rajendra (Tailang), bahu Mohini (Chaddha), younger beta Devendra (Mistry), all musically gifted, but stunted professionally and emotionally, by the dominance of the guru," wrote The Indian Express' critic Shubhra Gupta. Read more here.
Twitter user @rishi_frank recommends Bandish Bandits. "Just finished 3 episodes of #BandishBandits ! Awesome or not , atleast has a different context than normal Indian crime and suspense web series . Would definitely recommend it," the tweet read.
Bandish Bandits actor Rajesh Tailang spoke about his co-star and veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah, who plays the ‘sangeet samrat’ in the series.
“He was my teacher, everyone is his fan and he has given so much confidence to people like us. He plays my father in Bandish Bandits. I had earlier collaborated with him on the film Siddharth, where he also portrayed the role of my father. And this time around, the experience was no different; there is always so much to learn from him” Tailang told indianexpress.com in an interview.
"Just watched #BandishBandits on @PrimeVideoIN. A musical masterpiece created by @ShankarEhsanLoy with fresh faces of @ritwikbhowmikk and @shreya_chaudhry, this show is nothing short of a treat to watch. Specially combining the classical and pop music. Watch to fall in love," @clemmenSEN17 mentioned in a tweet.
@MdFaseeh tweeted, "I bow down to @atul_kulkarni for his stellar performance as always. I fell in love with him when he played the role of a cop in Dum and man he still has that mesmerizing skill. WHAT A TALENT!!!"
Nikhil Taneja is all praise for Anand Tiwari, Amritpal Bindra and their latest web-series Bandish Bandits. In a long post, Taneja wrote, 'What a journey it has been for these awesome people I love, the creative bandits @anandntiwari @bindraamritpal! I have had the privilege and pride to see them learn, grow and explode into the legends they are, from our first show Bang Baaja Baaraat, to their new show #BandishBandits.'
'The amount of hours, effort, love (and frustration!!) put into creating the massively cool, massively entertaining and plain massive show by these two and the incredible team they have had as allies, from bosswoman and full-time superstar @theaahamma to superhero @adhirbhat to supercool @karanstyagi and everyone else, shows on every frame of the series,' he added.
He concluded by writing, 'And what a debut it is for the very full of heart @shreya__chaudhry @ritwikbhowmik, who have literally worked with and matched giants of our industry! So, so happy to see the show go live today. Congratulations to @aparnapurohit and team Prime Video, you all have seldom got your beats wrong and it's so exciting to see someone care about content the way they do. #BandishBandits is streaming on @primevideoin now, hope you all have a blast watching it!'
Shreya Chaudhry, who plays Tamanna in Bandish Bandits, said she was initially "rooting for another friend" for the part of Radhe, which eventually went to Ritwik Bhowmik. In a statement, she said, "I was rooting for another friend of mine to get the part but when I got to know Ritwik, I realized our ideologies, thinking, concepts and method of working are very similar and we got along as buddies very well in the process of helping each other."
In Bandish Bandits, debutant Ritwik Bhowmik plays the character of a devout classical musician, who seeks the approval of his 'sangeet samrat' grandfather. Talking about the prep for the role, Bhowmik shared, “There wasn’t any physical transformation or training for Radhe’s character. However, I was asked to be mentally prepared to shoot a sequence in the scorching heat of 57 degree Celsius. I was barefoot and topless while shooting the entire scene. We kept on doing it with a smiling face knowing the fact that something great was coming our way.”
He added, “Before starting to shoot, makers asked me to run every day to make it look natural in the show. This made me look a bit more exhausted. I wasn’t demanded to follow gym and routine diets like any other lead actor. However, I believe I have become a much more disciplined person after playing Radhe’s character.”
Talking about Bandish Bandits to indianexpress.com, Rajesh Tailang said the web-series is special to him for multiple reasons. He said, “It is a personal story for me. I am from Rajasthan and everyone in my family is from a classical background. So this whole process was very identifiable. Plus, it has been shot in Bikaner, which happens to be my hometown. So in a way, this was like homecoming."
Trade analyst Sumit Kadel is all praise for Bandish Bandits. In a tweet, he wrote, "All episodes are decorated with beautiful classical & Fusion music, top notch writing, FANTASTIC performances & heartwarming emotions.Great TRIBUTE to shastriya sangeet. You cant afford to miss this"
Couple Goals is a heartwarming and fun pop song sung by Armaan Malik and Jonita Gandhi.
The song is composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and penned by Tanishk S Nabar.
@_shreyanshc is all praise for Amazon Prime Video original series Bandish Bandits. In a tweet, he mentioned, "#BandishBandits is just phenomenal. I am speechless. If you have ever devoted even half a year on classical music or even if you have a thing for music, then Bandish Bandits is for you @PrimeVideoIN"
@nikkis028 tweets, "Yes #BandishBandits is a TRUE tribute to Indian Classical/Hindustani Music! And it's special for people like me who have learnt n still learning Music, to see such a wonderful show dedicated To 100% Pure Hindustani Music! @anandntiwari @ritwikbhowmikk & others Hats Off 2 u all"
@spasarri1310 shared via Twitter, "Bandish Bandits. What a show!! Original, creative and musical..omfg. Music is <3"
@Karaboondi is in awe of Bandish Bandits' music. The Twitter user wrote, "Bandish Bandits hits the sweet spot mid way - Virah , Dhara Hogi and then Garaj Garaj . Absolute eargasm"
"The Classical Songs of the soundtrack of Bandish Bandits are soo soo good. Had some expectations from the album considering it's a musical web series. Garaj Garaj, Garaj Garaj Jugaalbandi and Labb Par Aaye stand out from rest of the tracks," wrote @ugach_kahitarii on Twitter.
Debutant Ritwik Bhowmik says it was a dream come true to shoot with Naseeruddin Shah in Amazon Prime Video's Bandish Bandits.
The actor opened up on how Shah helped him to get a scene right.
“To perform the sequence, I actually drenched my clothes in water and kept running across the set to look exhausted. However, Naseeruddin sir corrected me and told me that I actually have to run 3 to 4 kms to look like that. He then shared a very simple lifehack which will make me look exhausted in less than 10 seconds. He asked me to hold my breath, bend over and once the blood shoots up to my head come back to normal again. It made me look like I ran miles without displacing myself from the original position," Bhowmik said in a statement.
Music composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have marked their digital debut with Amazon Prime Videos' Bandish Bandits. The trio, in a statement, spoke about the response to the music of the series.
“The album is a seamless amalgamation of classical and pop music and features some of the most extraordinary melodies from Indian classical music alongside some really peppy tracks. We are ecstatic with the reaction the soundtrack has received and are thrilled we get to perform some of the best tracks from the soundtrack at the Bandish Bandits concert,” said Shankar Ehsaan Loy.