‘Jagamae Sangeetham’ review: A discordant take on tradition and modernity in classical music
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It wasn’t exactly earth-shattering, the conflict between the purity of classical forms and the pandering-to-the-market approach of popular music. Still, the web series Bandish Bandits – a winning title too – managed to drag what was essentially a family-drama-plus-romance over two seasons, hung on the peg of music. And the enduring allure of Rajasthan.
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Now, six years later, Palnati Surya Pratap has come up with a Telugu adaptation, Jagamae Sangeetham, replacing the Hindustani classical music backdrop of Jodhpur with a Carnatic setting in Rajahmundry. Straightway, the Prime Video show’s visual variety loses out.
In adapting the original by Anand Tiwari and Amritpal Singh Bindra, nothing has been added to the story. In fact, most of the drama has been flattened to focus mostly on the lead character, Balu (Akshay Lagusani), who’s caught in a tug-of-war between the expectations of his grandfather, Shastri (Prakash Raj), and his pop star beloved, Pallavi (Sushmita Shetty).
Shastri is revered in Rajahmundry and rules the household and his small group of students with unsmiling sternness. He’s unaware of the financial struggles of his older son Sudhakar (Shiju). Nobody tells the old man that his pension has been stopped and that their ancestral mansion is in danger of being auctioned.
Sudhakar’s wife, Saraswati (Madhubala), skulks around as the docile daughter-in-law. His...