Since
the
actors
fit
their
parts
perfectly,
and
everybody
gets
enough
of
an
opportunity
to
shine,
they
have
become
familiar
to
viewers.
So
along
with
its
relatable,
laugh-out-loud
content,
they
are
a
big
reason
for
the
show’s
popularity,
notes
Deepa
Gahlot.
It
does
not
happen
often
that
the
release
date
of
a
Web
series
gets
advanced
due
to
popular
demand.
The
fourth
season
of
the
village-based
comedy
drama
Panchayat
drops
on
June
24,
a
few
weeks
before
it
was
scheduled.
Produced
by
The
Viral
Fever,
with
its
old
team
still
working
on
the
mostly
wholesome
population
of
the
fictional
north
Indian
village
Phulera,
Panchayat
Season
4
is
created
by
Deepak
Kumar
Mishra
and
Chandan
Kumar,
and
directed
by
Deepak
Kumar
Mishra
and
Akshat
Vijaywargiya.
Actors
Jitendra
Kumar,
Neena
Gupta,
Raghubir
Yadav,
Faisal
Malik,
Chandan
Roy,
Sanvikaa,
Durgesh
Kumar,
Sunita
Rajwar
and
Pankaj
Jha
return
for
its
new
season.
In
Season
One,
city-bred
Abhishek
(Jitendra
Kumar),
an
engineering
graduate,
had
arrived
in
Phulera,
accepting
a
low-paying
job
as
the
panchayat
secretary,
to
get
some
work
experience
as
he
prepared
for
the
MBA
entrance
exam.
Initially
reluctant
to
get
drawn
into
village
life,
Abhishek
finds
a
surrogate
family
with
Manju
Devi
(Neena
Gupta),
the
village
sarpanch
and
her
husband
Brij
Bhushan
Dubey
(Raghubir
Yadav),
who
is
the
de
facto
pradhan,
because
that’s
how
it
is
when
women
get
elected
under
the
quota.
Abhishek
has
a
budding
romance
with
their
daughter
Rinki
(Sanvikaa),
which
should
hopefully
move
to
the
next
level,
since
it
has
been
static
over
three
seasons.
He
also
befriends
his
colleagues,
Prahlad
(Faisal
Malik),
the
deputy
pradhan,
and
the
office
assistant,
Vikas
(Chandan
Roy).
The
first
season
in
2020
was
an
early
entrant
in
the
OTT
scenario,
which
boomed
during
the
COVID
lockdown,
and
was
a
charming
slice-of-life
comedy,
mining
humour
from
everyday
situations
—
mainly
Abhishek’s
settling-in
problems
and
getting
his
head
around
rural
life.
At
the
end
of
the
second
season,
two
major
events
took
place.
Abhishek
was
transferred
by
the
vengeful
MLA,
Chandrakishore
Singh
(Pankaj
Jha)
and
Prahlad’s
soldier
son
was
killed
at
the
battlefront,
which
devastated
the
normally
cheerful
man.
Season
3
picked
up
from
there,
with
a
hilarious
first
episode,
in
which
the
pradhan
and
Vikas’
pals
try
to
get
Abhishek’s
transfer
cancelled,
and
prevent
the
new
incumbent
from
entering
the
office.
Earlier
seasons
had
established
an
acrimony
between
the
Dubeys
and
a
rival
Bhushan
(Durgesh
Kumar)
and
his
ambitious
wife
Kranti
Devi
(Sunita
Rajwar).
In
a
really
funny
episode,
in
Season
Two,
Kranti
had
accused
Manju
of
stealing
her
slippers.
Durgesh
has
the
backing
of
the
wicked
MLA
(a
bit
of
a
stereotype),
and
in
Season
4,
the
seething
hostility
is
out
in
the
open
as
Kranti
challenges
Manju
in
the
forthcoming
panchayat
elections.
The
trailer
shows
the
mayhem
that
ensues,
and
the
exchange
of
blows
and
insults.
Elections
on
screen
invariably
have
a
similar
graph,
and
this
might
actually
detract
from
the
simplicity
and
unpredictability
of
the
show.
Abhishek
cannot
remain
neutral
when
the
Phulera
erupts
with
election
fervour;
he
is
in
too
deep
now,
and
has
to
take
sides.
He
makes
the
mistake
of
telling
Rinki
that
in
the
event
her
mother
loses
the
election,
there
will
be
no
point
in
staying
on
in
Phulera
and
gets
the
stink
eye
from
her.
Since
the
actors
fit
their
parts
perfectly,
and
everybody
gets
enough
of
an
opportunity
to
shine,
they
have
become
familiar
to
viewers.
So
along
with
its
relatable,
laugh-out-loud
content,
they
are
a
big
reason
for
the
show’s
popularity.
When
the
world
is
going
to
seed,
there
is
still
hope
alive
in
Phulera.
Maybe
the
vile
winds
of
politics
will
not
change
the
essentially
innocent
and
amiable
soul
of
this
village.
Photographs
curated
by
Satish
Bodas/Rediff
