Banned: A band that rocks!

MUMBAI: A slice-of-life show is always an easy watch, but Banned, which launched on Viu this weekend, is an addictive watch. The Viu original is produced by Bodhi Tree Productions, directed by Ashish Shukla, and written by the multitalented Satyam Tripathi.

The show is about the struggle of four boys based in the small town of Sirsa in Haryana and their attempts to form a band titled Swag Busters. They end up in jail for singing antinational songs. The premise is simple and reminiscent of Farhan Akhtar starrer Lucknow Central. Apart from that, the characters are well thought through, real, and not over the top. The casting adds to that, and the screenplay is interestingly written. The episodes also flow well. Satyam, who has Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii and Detective Didi, among many others, to his credit, has always been a master of the slice-of-life genre, and his writing is simple and easy flowing. Banned seamlessly takes us back and forth in the narrative.

The cast has given some impressive performances: Paresh Pahuja as Sangeet, Deepak Kalra as Shampoo, Sahil Anand as Bhalla, and Syed Zeeshan Qadri as Manddi share a good chemistry and make you laugh with their quirky characters and occasional one liners. We even see Vivek Mushran playing the villain or, rather, the bad guy with a fun twist. However, one of the biggest failings of the show is that while it is a good watch, it fails to connect with you at an emotional level, thus not becoming a must watch.

The production values are decent, and the camera work is average. The show launched with hardly any marketing or publicity and might not grab too many eyeballs initially, but once you start watching it, you smoothly move from one episode to the other. The heroes of the show are clearly the screenplay and cast. I would give it 3 stars.

★★★★★ Masterpiece

★★★★½ Remarkable

★★★★ Great

★★★½ Very Good

★★★ Good

★★½ Average

★★ Soulless

★½ Bummer

★ Snooze fest

½ Failure