Interview | Swanand Kirkire on creating Bandwaale, playing Robo Kumar: ‘There are people like him who exist’

SWanand Kirkire has been piece of writing songs for many years, having penned some of our favourite songs, including Aal Izz swell, Tu Kisi rail in Si, and sir thomas more. As an doer, he went on to win a National Award for his performance in the Marathi film Chumbak. Now, the lyricist-actor takes a step further with the new show Bandwale. In a chat with HT, he talked about creating the show and added that there are many more stories from the small cities and towns of India that are still waiting to be heard and seen. (Excerpts)Swanand Kirkire on turning show creator for the first timeSwanand Kirkire marks his debut as a co-creator and co-writer of the show, alongside fellow musician and creator Ankur Tewari. He also stars in the show as Robo Kumar, an orchestra singer. From actor to now a creator of a show, does Swnand see this as a natural progression for him as an artist? He agrees and says, “I always wanted to direct a film, which has not happened yet, but becoming a creator is a step forward towards that. It is a much-needed progression because things quickly become stagnant and stale. So, I wanted to do this show.” Talking about the journey of writing and scripting the story, Kirkire adds, “Very initially we thought of it as a film, but when we pitched the story to Amazon, they liked the idea and suggested that it can also become a web show. They were ready and we thought why not? Let's go ahead because a story is a story. So we changed the format really, and the biggest learning from that is the fact that it is a mammoth task. It is not easy. A good show or a bad show, everything takes a lot of blood and sweat. So many people really work hard to make it happen.”“Even if they fail, and that is okay… the best part is when people like it, they will pick it further, and if they don't, then they will discard it in a second. So yeah, it was a big task,” he adds.On playing Robo KumarIn Bandwaale, Kirkire adds a lot of heart and humour into his performance as the orchestra player Robo Kumar. He is a little delusional, but he never means harm. The actor said, “I always wanted to create this character, and there are people like him who exist. They derive things from cinema, and they are not aware of what's right and wrong. But if you tell them the difference, they understand it! It is not a big deal.” “Robo Kumar really lives in the shadow of Hindi cinema. If Akshay Kumar does something on screen, he wants to become like him. He thinks of himself as a part of those characters on screen. But my playing him was not my decision! I don't command that kind of authority, so I will write and act in this part. Tess Joseph, Ankur, and Amazon were all there to have a say. I really knew this character and used to read his lines well, and that is how I probably landed up doing the role. I am very happy and lucky to play Robo Kumar, someone who is so different from what I have tried so far. He is a caricature, but you see a human behind that. That's the subtlety we wanted to get, and if that reaches people, then we have won to a certain extent,” he adds.Bandwaale is set in Rathlam, Madhya Pradesh. The show is peppered with so many interesting characters from a small town, but also has a specificity to their language and a desire to be modernised. Kirkire says that Rathlam was the one choice that fit the bill for the show.“From what I know, the best way to tell a story is to set it in a milieu that you really know. I am from Indore, and since childhood, I have seen Rathlam. It is a railway town established by the British, and so there are still many Anglo-Indian families living there. Even the main protagonist of the show is a Syrian Christian living in Rathlam who composes poems in Hindi. That is the reality of a place like Rathlam, too, and I am always so fascinated with these facets of a place. The second factor is that so many worlds collide in this story, and only in a small town. This collaboration between Mariam and Robo can only happen in a place like that,” he smiles.On rooted, small-town storiesOver the last few years, Indian streaming has delved into more rooted, small-town stories that revolve around crises, eccentricities and a very specific humour. From Panchayat to Kota Factory, the shows have become a major hit with viewers. Kirkire says there are many more such stories yet to come. “I do not think it is saturated at all,” he says. “India is so vast. If I put the love story of Bandwaale in another small city, it would be totally different. The characters will be different, the problems will be different. I will give credit to TVF for this, because they were the first to start digging up stories from the land. Otherwise, we were always westward-looking in terms of the long-form storytelling. Even if our kids were in Kota but we would still shy away from telling that story, their reality. They really dug into those stories. There are so many more to come; it is just a process that has started, where the ethos is Indian. Not limited to one genre. Even crime in small towns is filled with great stories. Same with paranormal. There is so much to explore," he concludes.Bandwaale is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.