Bandish Bandits trailer: Overturning age-old musical traditions in this intense young adult drama

Films based on music have made for some very dramatic stories on the screen like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1997) and Rockstar (2011). Hindi cinema has quite enjoyed this musical plot,which now seems to have drawn the attention of the digital medium as well. Amazon Prime's new original series, Bandish Bandits, is about an unlikely collaboration between two young musicians and what their involvement spells for traditional music. 

Directed by Anand Tiwari (Love Per Square Foot, 2018), the trailer captures a blend of expected and unexpected moments. Tamanna (Shreya Chaudhry) is a rising pop star, who dreams of becoming the first Indian international rockstar. With a deadline looming ahead, she decides to experiment a bit with her style.

On the other side of the spectrum is Radhe (Ritwik Bhowmik), steeped in the traditional gharana music of his grandfather (Naseeruddin Shah). The two youngsters, who decide on a musical collaboration, are instantly attracted to each other. But for Radhe, the collaboration leads to him being banished from the gharana by his angry grandfather.

Chaudhry and Bhowmick look a little raw in the trailer, but it would be unfair to judge them solely on that. With music at the heart of the story, the series has done well to rope in Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy on the score. In addition, the line-up of singers includes the likes of Mame Khan, Farid Hassan, Pt Ajoy Chakraborty, Shankar Mahadevan, Jonita Gandhi, Armaan Malik, and Javed Ali, among others. The music should make for some interesting listening.

Directed by Anand Tiwari, the series also features Atul Kulkarni, Sheeba Chaddha, Rajesh Tailang and Kunaal Roy Kapur, among others. 

Bandish Bandits will begin streaming on Amazon Prime's OTT platform from 4 August.