Anand Tiwari: Indian music is as sexy as jazz and hip hop – Mid-day

Director Anand Tiwari on how his upcoming web offering Bandish Bandits attempts to make classical music relevant

His last outing as a director, Love Per Square Foot (2018), earned him much appreciation. A year later, Anand Tiwari is busy giving shape to his next, Bandish Bandits. The musical explores the merging of two worlds as a classical musician and a pop star fall in love.

Tiwari says the subject stemmed from the need to introduce the rich treasure trove of Indian music to the youth. “The idea is to make classical music relevant. Most of us are trained to look at Indian traditional music as dogmatic; so we hope to bring it alive. The more we understand it, the more we realise that it’s as sexy as jazz and as oomphy as hip hop,” states Tiwari, who has joined forces with showrunner Amritpal Bindra for the series. Although the project has gone on floors, he remains tight-lipped about the cast. “We are waiting for Amazon Prime to reveal it.”

The makers have roped in composers Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for the project. “Shankar brings his knowledge of Carnatic and Hindustani music, Ehsaan and Loy bring their understanding of pop. Their input is not musical alone; they helped us create conflict points [in the story].”

Credit: https://www.mid-day.com/articles/anand-tiwari-indian-music-is-as-sexy-as-jazz-and-hip-hop/20589184