Music has always been the essence of Bandish Bandits, a musical romantic drama web series that had its first season released in 2020. In its second edition that came out recently, the show blended Indian classical and Western contemporary music and it is the young musician Prithvi Gandharv who has emerged as a huge favourite among music lovers for his compositions -- Nirmohiya and Yaahin Rahiyo Sa. Melodies from classical traditions that Gandharv had composed on his piano in Ujjain a few years ago during covid today have become the soul of the series. Gandharv’s voice has seamlessly integrated with the fabric of Bandish Bandits Season 2, making him a household name among lovers of classical fusion. And Gandharv’s musical prowess isn’t limited to playback singing and composing, he’s a ghazal connoisseur, and a live performer who has shared the stage with legends like Ghulam Ali. He is excited about his upcoming US and Canada tour with legendary Ghazal Maestro Ghulam Ali, recounting the invaluable lessons he has gained from their past collaborations.
“The Bandish Bandit team had called me to be the voice of Radhe [the male protagonist and a young music prodigy] . I was called as a singer and not as a composer initially. I sang 16 bandishes in three to four meetings that I had with the team, including director Anand Tiwari and Akashdeep Sengupta [the creative force behind the music]. We used to sit for four to five hours and all those bandishes that I sang were composed by other composers. They loved my singing but they found that spark missing, they felt something was not appropriate in those compositions. We continued our conversations and they started digging deeper into my musical experiences. After I had performed various compositions, the director noticed how I naturally infused my own improvisations into each bandish. They felt I could also compose and asked me to share something original. I immediately thought of Nirmohiya, the composition I had created during the lockdown in Ujjain. One day, while sitting at the piano, the melody just came to me. The first words that naturally flowed were Nirmohiya. It was a simple yet deeply romantic piece in Raag Yaman. When I played the recording from my phone and sang it live, something clicked. Until then, I had been singing very intricate classical compositions, but Nirmohiya had a softness, a lightness—it was romantic and easy on the ears. That’s when the director felt that was it,” says Gandharv about him bagging the project.
Music came very naturally to Gandharv as his entire family is into music. He says, “Music happened the day I was born, it is in my blood. My grandfather, father, mother, sister... all are musicians. In fact, the instrument Bela Bahar was invented by our family. Yet one has to do the hard work, work on duniyadari [worldliness] and know how and what kind of music to present. You have to create other frills, you have the raw material but I took very long to learn how to execute and I am still learning,” says the young musician.
A protégé of A Hariharan, a playback, ghazal and bhajan singer, Gandharv says the music maestro fine-tuned his music skills. “Except for my mother there were no singers in my family. My grandfather was a great legendary composer, and sarangi and harmonium player, my father is a violinist but I needed a mentor for my singing. Hariharan-ji polished my singing skills though he rarely teaches people and I am fortunate to have him as my guru. The association with Hariharan-ji has been for almost 14 years but it was never one-on-one learning, I have had only three to four classes with him. It is only when I meet him in a party or if there is a project with him and I am spending time with him or when I am watching and listening to him perform. Those are the times, I imbibe his music. So it is more like a ruhani [spiritual or divine] way of teaching and learning. I was already a professional artist and was singing and touring but there was this hunger to learn more. Hariharan-ji sabotaged my emotions earlier as he rarely teaches and then I started doing music with his son. Soon after Hariharan-ji found me good with ghazals and that is how the guru found me,” says Gandharv who enjoys exchanging notes with his family. "There is a beautiful mahaul [atmosphere] at home, we polish each other's skills and share notes on music," he says.
Gandharv was barely 14 years old when he started performing and it was with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2015 release Bajirao Mastani that he was introduced to popular commercial music. His song Albela Sajan was highly appreciated among the music connoisseurs and critics. “Bhansali sir was looking for a classical singer who could sing for recording and that is how my recording journey started,” says Gandharv.
Gandharv is widely recognized for his expertise in ghazals and sufi and when asked about his love for this genre in music, he says, “It is not that nobody is doing so let me do it, that was not the thought process. It was purely due to love for the subject. I love Urdu poetry, I love the sound and ghazals are musical and deep. If you put Aaj jaane ki zid na karo against five film songs, the former would win hands down. Ghazal has always attracted me, ghazal is a beautiful bridge between classical and commercial music. It is not so commercial and not so classical, you can do a lot with ghazals. I get a lot of freedom and I can express a lot in this genre. But when I started ghazal rendition at that time my generation did not like it, even all my singer friends found it very boring. They wondered who would sing ghazals with shawl wrapped around you and sitting on a harmonium. They found it uncool then and today it has become far more uncool. Yet, I feel I have inspired a lot of singers and a lot of them have turned into ghazal singers now.”