Panchayat

There are two parts of India - Urban India which has kind of adapted to the western culture and Rural India which still follows the tradition, culture and authentic. If you love to watch a village story, Panchayat is the right dose of medicine for you.

Panchayat tells the story of an engineer graduate who joins a small village, Phulera, in the Bilai district of Uttar Pradesh as a secretary of a panchayat office and in the process re-discovers the grass root issues in the village like frequent power cuts, unorganized office, dowry, family planning etc. What follows next is the measure taken up by him to improve the quality of life in the village.

Created by #TVF (#PermanentRoommates, #TVFPitchers, #KotaFactory), produced by #AmazonPrimeStudio and directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra, Panchayat absorbs you right from the very first episode when Abhishek Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) joins the offices and begins to observe the life, habits and behavior of the village folks. Panchayat has shades of Shah Rukh Khan starrer Swades where a NRI comes back to India in search of his nanny, identifies the problem and finds the solution. The only difference is that Panchayat focuses on the granular level at the various aspect of a village life.

The direction is impressive handling many sequences with perfection. The scene where Abhishek Tripathi finds out the real mystery behind the haunted tree is hilarious, the wedding scene where the groom shows attitude at the Panchayat office, the fight between Abhishek Tripathi and his team with the local boys at the Fakauli market will bring down the house, the chemisstry between Neena Gupta and Raghuvir Yadav is outstanding. Technically, the cinematography capturing the beautiful locales of an Indian village while Art Direction is simple yet powerful. Dialogues are punching while background score goes well with all the 8 episodes.

While Panchayat will keep you on your toes, there are few insignificant scenes which I felt hampers the momentum of the web-series, especially towards the end. The web-series also shows that Abhishek Tripathi still never liked the village but had to stay back because of the reason which could have been better. Nevertheless, writing by Chandan Kumar is brilliant which should be lauded while the editing is tight.

Performances of Panchayat is the highlight of the web-series. Jithendra Kumar is complete natural as frustrated guy who is transferred from an urban city life to a remote village. However, it is Raghuvir Yadav and Neena Gupta who are just splendid to watch. Chandan Roy as Vikas and Faisal Malik as Prahlad Pandey added more weight to the film.

Panchayat, overall , has the right intention with a good social message which should be the top choice for this weekend. Splendid 4/5

Set against a rural backdrop, Panchayat narrates the journey and events in the life of an engineering graduate, who for the lack of any better jobs takes up the position of the secretary of the village panchayat chief. What follows is Abhishek's first time encounter with the life, dialogue and people of India's other side that that takes him closer to living life.

TVF is known to take alternative stories and push them into mainstream. They did it with Kota Factory and once again they have successfully managed to create a village comedy that is devoid of forced situational comedy or harsh stereotypical jokes. The comedy and light hearted relief exists not merely in the dialogues but the characters themselves and once you start relating with them, their interaction is what drives the show forward. Chandan Roy as Vikas, and Faisal Malik as Prahlad deliver breakthrough performances with their comic timings and innocent approach to the life and troubles of Abhishek played wonderfully once again by the talented Jitendra Kumar.

The scenes and stories are wonderfully executed as most of them revolve around insignificant events that become important only when you place them in the setting and the people around them. Apart from the comedy, the story also drives Abhishek's journey from hating the village to slowly loving and accepting the people around him. Obviously, the show will return for a second season given it ends with multiple cliffhanger, but what TVF does best is making a show that remains re-watchable because even more than the script or screenplay, you fall in love with the characters that would stay in your heart long after the end credits roll.

I had always considered Indian comedy series to be a lost cause given their need for slapstick humour and no emotional storytelling. However, TVF has once again proved that they can manage to create a story and characters that would re-define Indian television even if it is through streaming services. For anyone who has been having a tough time in 2020 with all that has been going around, nothing can be a better watch than Panchayat to lift your spirits up.

Panchayat is a very carefully crafted piece of work. For someone who has been in touch with the rural life, I can vouch that the whole setup seems quite natural and not at all forced. The gradually evolving chemistry between the characters lays out in front of you a beautifully woven & intricate fabric of the society, where you see the vulnerability of a common man. The occasional emotional outburst, disappointment, standing up for the other fellow and that innate innocence of every character doesn't stop short to bring out a smile on your face. On the other hand it brings to surface the subjects like class divide, dowry, gender inequality, population control, flexible morality and many such aspects. The makers looked conscious of keeping the plot and the story line tight and avoided needless stretching of subplots. One of the best webseries' produced in recent times. A must watch.

I've been such a huge fan of their writing and again with Panchayat they've nailed it.

This is the show that puts a smile on your face as you watch it. You get in love with each and every character of the show. At the end, I felt eight episode were not enough. Will wait for season 2.