Music is at the center of Prime Video’s Bandish Bandits, a show that blends classical and pop tunes. It tells the story of Radhe (Ritwik Bhowmik), a novice singer from an esteemed musical gharana, as he falls in love with Tamanna (Shreya Chaudhry), a rising star with an inclination towards Western music. In the second season of the show, which was released on December 13, the two have fallen apart and have decided to go their own ways. It is music that brings them together. Just like her character, Shreya feels that music has influenced her in many ways in her own life. “It is like therapy for me. I listen to it when I am happy and also when I am sad,” she says.
Acclaimed actor Divya Dutta, who has joined the second season of the show and plays a music teacher, agrees with Shreya. Having worked over the years in numerous films and series, Divya feels that there is a connection between acting and music. “For me, each time I am working on a project, my brother calls to ask me if I have found the sur (tone) for the character. It is important to find that sur,” she says.
Rajesh Tailang, known for working in Mirzapur and Delhi Crime, feels the same. He plays the role of Radhe’s father in Bandish Bandits, caught in the middle of following their family’s tradition and paving a new way. Rajesh says, “As an actor, you have to compose your performance. Acting has a sense of musicality to it.” His drama teacher had given him a piece of advice that stayed with him. “He used to say that as an actor, our dialogue delivery should be a combination of poetry and music,” says Rajesh.
The show has multiple sequences in which actors are lip-syncing to the voice of playback singers. Ritwik’s understanding of it was fueled by observing other actors lip-sync to a song. “As a kid, I used to stand in front of the mirror and sing like Rajesh Khanna, Dilip Kumar or Shah Rukh Khan,” he says. At the same time, when he started working on the show, he found lip-syncing to be tough.
“I realised that it is more than just running around trees and romancing,” he quips, adding that they went through a rigorous workshop with a singing coach that helped them engage with it better. The process was similar even for Shreya, who was told by director Anand Tiwari to look at the breathing patterns of singers as they perform. “I closely observed Nikhita Gandhi, who is the voice of Tamanna in the show, and how she kept the mic at a specific distance from her mouth. These things helped me in making sense of the character,” she says.
Anand is an actor himself, having worked in films like Go Goa Gone (2013), Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015), Chhapaak (2020), and recently in Ae Watan Mere Watan (2024). He feels that his experience as an actor makes it easier for him to connect with the cast better when he is directing. “If they do not understand something, I can see if it is due to my communication issue or the nervousness they are facing or if they just want to go to the toilet,” he laughs, adding that he knows the importance which they bring to the table. At the same time, he wants to keep them real and make them understand the role of other technicians in their performance. “The job of a director is to make everyone believe they are part of something important. I try to restrict myself to that.”
The first season of the show featured fusion music composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Anand says that working with the trio was a learning experience for him as they know how to blend storytelling with music. “During season 1, we sat down with them in the scripting stage and the music was written alongside the dramatic portions. This was important because the songs were part of the narrative and the drama was enhanced through the music,” he says.
This time around, however, the music track of the show features younger musicians and has a more contemporary feeling to it. Anand feels that the choice reflects the change in the musical journey that the characters go through. “We look at Bandish Bandits as an 18-episode series, divided into two seasons. The second part is where the newer composers have come in as the story moves in a different direction,” he signs off.
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