Panchayat Season 3 Review: Politics Takes The Centre Stage

Panchayat Season 3 Review: Politics Takes The Centre Stage

Panchayat, one of the favourite shows of many, has returned with its Season 3 on Amazon Prime, giving us another peek into the politics of the village Phulera. While the first and second seasons won hearts with an honest portrayal of village simplicity and human emotions, Panchayat Season-3 continues to captivate the viewers by delving deeper into political and emotional struggles of the characters. Although politics takes centre stage in the new season, yet emotions remain at its core.

 

Story

Prahlad (played by Faisal Malik) goes into depression after the death of his son Rahul and becomes addicted to alcohol. The transfer of Phulera’s Panchayat secretary Abhishek Tripathi (played by Jitendra Kumar) had upset Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghubir Yadav), Prahlad, and Vikas (Chandan Roy). The trio make a successful attempt to restrict another person from becoming secretary leading to reinstatement of Abhishek Tripathi as Panchayat Sachiv. Despite reconciliation efforts, enmity grows between Phulera village and MLA Chandrakishore Singh (Pankaj Jha), coinciding with the upcoming Panchayat elections.

With burning questions such as ‘What will be the MLA’s next move?’ and ‘Who will be the next Pradhan?’ alongside escalating tensions between Bhushan AKA Banrakas (Durgesh Kumar) and Pradhan pati Brij Bhushan Dubey (Rahgubir Yadav), the third season of this TVF series intensifies both drama and intrigue.

 

Strengths

The strength of Panchayat series lies in its simplistic and relatable depiction of rural life. The show remains true to the essence of the village life with typical village characters and their unique issues. The location, the dialect, the characters all look so genuine that people have started identifying them with their roles.

 

Panchayat Season-3 gives time for the characters to evolve and the makers have done justice to each and every character by allowing it to grow and not lose essence. The neatly etched characterizations of Neena Gupta and Faisal Malik win our hearts this time. In the previous seasons they had played supporting roles, but in the third season they take us by surprise with their brilliant performances. Neena Gupta, who played a proxy Pradhan in the first two seasons, takes charge of things in Panchayat 3. She understands politics now and is involved in panchayat matters.  She is no longer letting her husband take the shots and is way more involved in village politics. The veteran actress is superb in her role and captivates us whenever she appears on screen in her crisp cotton sarees.

 

Faisal Malik’s portrayal of Prahlad stands out, as he continues to tug at heartstrings with his nuanced performance. Dejected by his son’s death, Prahlad’s performance moves us to tears. The writers brought emotional depth to the show with Prahlad’s character. In Episode 3 his interaction scene with Amma (played by Abha Sharma) at his home is purely heartwarming. When Amma asks him why he brought her to his house, Prahlad answers, “To show you how it feels to be in an empty house. It’s the most crippling pain, which is unbearable.” He urges her not to trade away the precious “gold” of her family for mere “bricks and stones.”

 

Jitendra Kumar is impressive once again as Sachiv Ji, and his love track with Sanvikaa is pleasant. While their love story takes a secondary role, stolen romantic moments in the Fakauli market offer glimpses of sweetness amid the political turmoil.

 

The show has engaging moments, and the performances of the other supporting cast, including Raghubir Yadav, Chandan Roy, Pankaj Jha, and Durgesh Kumar, are brilliant. Actors with small roles also get a chance to shine, from Sunita Rajwar as Kranti Devi, Pankaj Jha as MLA Chandrakishore Singh, Ashok Pathak as Vinod to Bulloo Kumar as Madhav. Bam Bahadur, a new character, adds to the strength of the story. Abha Sharma shines as Amma Ji in a small yet effective role and adds a new dimension to the series. The return of Ganesh (portrayed by Aasif Sheikh) is a surprising and happy moment. He brings in nostalgia, and plays a pivotal role in the plot. In fact, the characters of the supporting artists are neatly written, and everyone makes their presence felt.

 

The show delves deep into village politics, and corruption at grassroot level, while retaining the simple storytelling technique. If we talk about the twists and turns, the show doesn’t disappoint the audience. The ending is pretty good, with a solid cliffhanger.

 

Weaknesses

The USP of the Panchayat series has been its breezy humour and light-hearted approach, but in the third season, politics take centre stage. So, people expecting just comedy might get disappointed. Striking a right balance between humour and emotional moments could have taken the show to the next level.

 

The pace of Season3 remains sluggish in many sequences, and the editing team could have done a far better job. Compared to the first two seasons, the third part looks somewhat lacking in ambition just like Sachiv Ji, may be due to the high standards set by the makers in first two episodes.

 

Technical Elements

Deepak Kumar Mishra’s direction is decent but not great. The third season is high on politics, with more concentration on drama and emotions. The storytelling has some hits and misses, with sluggish pace being the key drawback. Anurag Saikia’s music is decent. Amitabha Singh’s cinematography is good and he once again beautifully depicts India’s rural heartland. Editing as said earlier could have been better.

 

However, there are many bright spots and the screenplay does manage to provoke both laughs and tears and still gets the combination of humour and drama right many times. The highlight of season 3 is the subtlety with which the character growth is portrayed. The acting and the casting remain exceptional.

 

Our Verdict

 On the whole, Panchayat Season-3 is decent, with good performances and emotional moments. While the first two seasons are known for their breeziness, politics and emotions take centre stage in the third season. There are engaging moments, but the humour, which is the USP of this franchise, is lacking. Also, the pace is quite slow and a few sequences seem to be stretched unnecessarily. Overall, Panchayat Season 3 doesn’t disappoint. However, with an interesting ending it seems to serve as a precursor to the fourth season, hinting at an even greater drama for viewers to look forward to. For dedicated fans of Panchayat, Season 3 is a must-watch, delivering the rustic charm and subtle humour they’ve come to love from the series

 

Rating

3.5/5