OTT Review: Bandwaale

Bandwaale | Director: Akshat Verma | Cast: Tahan Kapoor, Shalini Pandey | Hindi | Prime Video

 Mariam (Shalini Pandey) is a young Malayali woman and a budding poet. She needs a way to make her poetry reach out to more people. Enter a mysterious hoodie-clad DJ, portrayed by Zahan Kapoor (grandson of Shashi Kapoor) who will help her do that. There is a shaadi singer who cannot hit the high notes (Swanand Kirkire). And there is an anxious father, David, played well by Ashish Vidyarthi, who loves his daughter but wants her to get married as soon as possible. The music is simple and elegant; the relationship between Mariam and her sister Cynthia (Sanjana Dipu) is close; and their quiet mother is a stoic background figure. The setting is the quaint town of Ratlam, the town in Madhya Pradesh which every train has to pass through. There is a sweetness to Bandwaale that is offset by the tartness of its quirky characters and the freshness of its actors.