‘Bandish Bandits’ Season 2 series review: An out of tune, overly dramatic continuation

A still from ‘Bandish Bandits’ Season 2

When Bandish Bandits first released in 2020, it garnered praise for its music, and a storyline that stood out from its peers. Four years down the line, the second season of the show faces the challenge of not only living up to its initial success, but also competing against a much more-packed Hindi OTT scene. Unfortunately for Bandish Bandits, its sophomore season buckles under the heft of its own dramatic tempo, and ultimately fails to replicate its earlier rhythm.

Starting off a few months from where the first season left off, the series, created by Amritpal Singh Bindra and Anand Tiwari, follows two parallel tracks. The Rathods, following the demise of their patriarch (played by Naseeruddin Shah in Season 1), find themselves in the middle of a family feud, with many including Digvijay (Atul Kulkarni) vying for control of the Gharana’s legacy. A salacious book detailing the more unpleasant parts of his grandfather’s life makes it difficult for Radhe (Ritwik Bhowmik) to uphold his family’s reputation as Jodhpur’s foremost institution of classical music. Away from the Rajasthan heat, Tamanna (Shreya Chaudhary) is enrolled in a fictional prestigious music college nestled in the hills of Kasol. With an aim to shed her reputation as the “auto-tune queen”, Tamanna throws herself into learning music from scratch.

Miles away from each other, both Radhe and Tamanna seek the solution to their problems in the upcoming ‘India Band Championship’. While Radhe gathers his family to form a classical music band, to present his grandfather’s music to the world on his own terms, for Tamanna the competition becomes a way for her to redefine her image.

The young romance between Radhe and Tamanna was a central storyline for Bandish Bandits initially. Keeping them apart this time around means that the show ends up taking too much on its hands, and lacks the skill to manoeuvre the same deftly. With 10 episodes this season, the first half of the show simply keeps switching back and forth between Jodhpur and Kasol, while doing little to meaningfully connect the two storylines. By the time we come around to the second part of the show, where Tamanna’s college band faces off against the Rathod family, the audience has lost both – patience and interest.

Being a show whose narrative is periodically pushed ahead with the help of a lengthy soundtrack, Bandhish Bandits’ emotional weight is often assigned to these songs. Therefore, it comes as a surprise that the script also chooses to overly dramatise the rest of the show. The near-constant pauses in the script for platitudes, often end up distracting from the pathos of the moment.

However, in this vast cast of characters having their individual dramatic moments, Sheeba Chaddha’s Mohini ends up stealing the spotlight. Having been the daughter-in-law in the shadows, Mohini is finally given the chance to display her music prowess. Chaddha’s nimble handling of Mohini comes as a breath of fresh air, and speaks to the possibility of the different routes the show could have taken.

Despite new characters and longer episodes, the second season of Bandish Bandits fails to charm its audience. With classical music helming the story, there is much to be said about legacies, about “purity” of music, and the place women occupy in this field. Hopefully, Bandish Bandits can tap into these potentials in later seasons.

Bandish Bandits is available for streaming on Amazon Prime