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.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 younger brother Phani (Shifu) has cheerfully accepted his fate as the clan’s loser. Shastri stubbornly refuses to take his music out into the world – he famously turned down a Padma Shri because it would mean missing his riyaaz.Prakash Raj in Jagamae Sangeetham (2026). Courtesy Leo Media/Prime Video.The household and Shastri, for their own reasons, place all their hopes in Balu. He has to get a job as well as practise to win the Sangeet Bharati competition, a title his grandfather has held for years.Balu’s life gets complicated by the arrival of Pallavi, who’s in need of inspiration so that she can get a hit and perform with her idol Queen Ellie (whoever that might be). Pallavi steamrolls Balu into singing with her. In walks Thyagaraju (Meka Srikanth), Balu’s step-brother, who is an accomplished singer and demands his rights as the successor of the gharana.Although Balu spins about like a top, practising with Shastri and bowing to Pallavi’s increasing demands, he’s none the worse for the wear, either physically or emotionally. Balu is willing to marry Sandhya (Prachi Thaker) from a royal family that can pull the family out of their dire condition.By today’s standards, Balu is a wimp. None of the characters elicit the slightest sympathy since they’re as flat as cardboard cut-outs. In fact, the shabbily treated Sandhya is the most straightforward of the lot.Madhubala and Shiju in Jagamae Sangeetham (2026). Courtesy Leo Media/Prime Video.Cinema and television continue to lionise recalcitrant elderly patriarchs who want unconditional obedience from their families and others who come into their ambit. With the world changing around them, there is no convincing reason for Shastri’s family to swallow their misery silently. Phani is only able to tell his father what’s what when the old man angrily takes a vow of silence.Other characters are irritatingly outdated, such as Pallavi’s career-oriented mother (Jhansi), who is portrayed as a harridan. Balu’s over-acting buddy (Jabardasth Nagireddy) and two beggars as comic relief seem to have emerged from the woodwork of retro cinema.Unlike the saving-grace music of Bandish Bandits, Vishal Chandrashekhar’s compositions are efficient but not chart-busting.Jagamae Sangeetham looks and feels old-fashioned even though it is set in the present. The actors look like they were marking attendance. Even Prakash Raj, who is capable of dominating the screen in whatever part he does, looks out of sorts.