The best bit of TVF’s latest creation Panchayat is that there is nothing extraordinary about its storyline or storytelling. Yet the series comes across as something extremely special, soothing, calming and as a breath of fresh air in these un-extra ordinary times that we live in.
For a lot of us, we are stuck in this one in a millionth pandemic situation, with our chaotic metropolitan lives coming to an abrupt halt. From a time, where we would be fighting for space in our personal lives, we are now stuck in a morass where emptiness is irking us out. Living with uncertainties and constant feelings of helplessness makes us question the very core of our existence, as human race, as competitive individuals and even as the smartest being on the planet.
But cutting short to Panchayat, the Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav led cast has managed to deliver as masterpiece simply because whatever is narrated in the series is very real. As mentioned before, the story is nothing extraordinary, but the fact that everything is so real in the entire narration gets the show a rating of 9.1/10 in IMDb.
Protagonist, Abhishek Tripathi, played by our favourite Jeetu Bhaiya, takes up an administerial job in a Panchayat in a remote village in Uttar Pradesh called Phulera. An engineering graduate, Abhishek battles competitive jealousness with his friends and decides to adjust in a rural setup, which is completely opposite of a life which he has led so far.
He reaches a village, where he battles loneliness, because he is a misfit culturally. Like many of us, he aspires a high earning job, and to fight it out, prepares for MBA entrances, battling all the struggles which come his way. The biggest of which was the utter frustration of being a standalone individual in the entire village, away from friends living with a community which wakes up early, irrespective of what day of the week it is and far far away from the concept of the weekend celebration. And amidst this, he has his job, which makes him deal with peculiar situations.
But Abhishek survives and not only survives, but the fellow characters of the show, Pradhan Pati, Up-Pradhan and their assistant comes in and gives him a reason to stay and carry forward with his life. And this honestly, should give us hope that we too will survive these difficult times and come out as better individuals.
Abhishek manages to find things which he values in the morass which he thought he was stuck in, fights for them, preach for them and even stands up for them. And this is exactly what we should take away from the show. Times like these make us understand the value of what we have around, what we have lost and what we can lose if we do not have the time to comprehend.
The show is very real. There is nothing which the script has tried to hide. From irregularities in our Panchayati level systems to the fact of how men have exploited the system to overthrow women’s participation in electoral politics. Nothing has been sugarcoated, but simply narrated in a way which makes it visually and mentally appealing, and more importantly, the direction did not let any element of pessimism creep into the storyline.
The background score of the series is sublime, just like any other TVF production. Assamese music director Anurag Saikia, who has time and again demonstrated how talented he is, has once again delivered something which makes us appreciate it, without even noticing it. There no overdosage of sound elements or notes. Simply a score that complements the narration. Though keeping up with the trend, TVF has launched separate tracks of the show with their streaming partner Amazon. And the music standalone is a treat to hear.
Each episode has teaching to offer, and there are personal reasons why we sometimes decide to do things, for good or for bad. And the season one ends, which one such glimpse of the protagonist.
Panchayat would be one series, which we will be awaiting the next season.
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