Panchayat (TV series)

Panchayat is a 2020 Indian comedy-drama web television series that premiered on Amazon Video on 3 April 2020. Produced by The Viral Fever, the series chronicles the life of engineering graduate who joins as a Panchayat secretary in a remote village Phulera of Uttar Pradesh due to lack of better job options. The series stars Jitendra Kumar, Raghubir Yadav, Neena Gupta, and Biswapati Sarkar.

Panchayat
Promotional poster
Genre	Comedy-drama
Written by	Chandan Kumar
Directed by	Deepak Kumar Mishra
Starring	Jitendra Kumar Raghubir Yadav
Music by	Anurag Saikia
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer	Sameer Saxena
Cinematography	Amitabh Singh
Editor	Amit Kulkarni
Running time	35–40 minutes
Production company	The Viral Fever (Contagious Online Media Network)
Release
Original network	Amazon Prime Video
Original release	3 April 2020 – present

Deepak Kumar Mishra directed the show, and Chandan Kumar & Tamojit Das wrote it. The official trailer was released on 30 March 2020.[1] The Series won all the awards at the Filmfare OTT Awards under the Comedy Series Category, except for Best Actress, which went to Mithila Palkar for Little Things (TV Series)

Premise

Panchayat shows the experiences of a city boy who after completing his graduation gets a low salary job in a remote village called Phulera.[2][3][4]

Cast

• Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek Tripathi, Panchayat Secretary[5]
• Neena Gupta as Manju Devi, Pradhan/Sarpanch[6]
• Raghubir Yadav as Brij Bhushan Dubey, Manju Devi's Husband, Pradhan-Pati[7]
• Biswapati Sarkar as Prateek, Abhishek's friend
• Faisal Malik as Prahlad Pandey, Upa-Pradhan
• Chandan Roy as Vikas, Office Assistant
• Pooja Singh as Rinky, daughter of Pradhan[8]
• Subendhu Chakraborty as Mangal
• Sushil Tondon as Bhindeshwar
• Mubarak Khan as Ward Member 1
• Kamal Rai as Ward Member 2
• Govind Lobhani as Ward Member 3
• Bal Mukund Rai as Ward Member 4
• Salim Ansari as Ward Member 5
• Mohd. Shakir as Ward Member 6
• Dinesh Tiwaru as Ward Member 7
• Kailash Karoshiya as Ward Member 8
• Durgesh Kumar as Bhushan
• Aasif Khan as “Asshole” Groom
• Deepesh Sumitra Jagdish as Photographer
• Sandeep Shikhar as Deenbandhu
• Shrikant Verma as Parmeshwar
• Jyoti Dubey as Sushma
• Rajesh Jais as Virendra Gupta (BDO)
• Aasif Khan as Ganesh,Bride Groom
• Prateek Pachauri as Babloo
• Dipesh Binyani as BDO's Assistant
• Ebaabdullah Khan as Dabloo
• Ankit Motghare as Theka Shopkeeper
• Usha Nagar as Deenbandhu's Mother
• Aditya Sharma as Groom's Father/Ganesh Father
• Shashie Vermaa as Master Ji
• Vishwanath Chatterjee as Sub Inspector
• Kusum Shastri as District Magistrate
• Shubham as Goon 1
• Prayag Sahu as Goon 2
• Arvind Bhagwat as DM's Assistant

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Gram Panchayat Phulera"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Abhishek Tripathi is a fresh engineering graduate who does not get placed in his final year. With only a job offer of a panchayat secretary, he tries to give it a shot as there is no other option left after graduating. He reaches Phulera and meets the former village sarpanch (husband of the current village sarpanch), the deputy sarpanch and his assistant. When Abhishek reaches Phulera, the doors of the panchayat office is locked and the keys missing. By the time the doors are opened (blown from the frame), the situation inside the office room turns him down. Abhishek decides that he needs to switch his job at the earliest and the only way to do so is by cracking CAT (Common Admission Test) and taking admission in one of the IIMs.
2	"Bhootha Ped"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Abhishek, working as panchayat secretary, is also preparing for CAT after office hours. He has arranged for emergency lights as there is power shutdown in the village every night. He plans to install a solar-powered light in the panchayat office from the total lights allotted. His plan is thwarted when one of the panchayat member suggests to install the light at a place called Bhootha Ped (haunted tree) which will help the sarpanch garner votes in the upcoming election. Abhishek now undertakes the mission to uncover the truth.
3	"Chakke Wali Kursi"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
When Abhishek finds uncomfortable in his chair he brings a fabricated chair , when Pradhanji saw this he feels whoever sits in this “chakke wali kursi” (chair) , he is more superior . Once while a marriage function in the village , there is a miscommunication between Abhishek and the groom , where the groom asks to take the chair as a “dowry”. Abhishek reluctantly accepts it. Then Pradhanji offers his chair to Abhishek , where Abhishek found that Pradhanji offered his chair to bring a new “chakke wali kursi” for himself , which surprises him.
4	"Hamara Neta Kaisa Ho?"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Abhishek is instructed by the BDO to put up family planning slogans. Since this is a pet project of the DM, he threatens him with disciplinary action if the work is not done on time. Abhishek gets the slogans painted and then walks around with Pradhan, Prahlad and Vikas to check on the work. The second slogan ,"Do bacche meethi Kheer, do se jyaada bawaseer" compares children born, after the first two , to a case of piles which provokes a strong reaction among villagers who have more than 2 kids. This puts Pradhan in a tough position since they all threaten to vote against him at the next election and he has the slogan removed. Manju Devi calls out the Pradhan on his weak leadership. Pradhan see's a picture of Sardar Patel and gets inspired. He has Abhishek to call a meeting of the ward and tells the gathering that he stand's by the slogan. Prahlad and Vikas also support the Pradhan. Abhishek tells the Panchayat that they should tell anyone offended by the slogan that it is like a warning on a cigarette packet which is meant to offend and scare. Pradhan instructs Vikas to put the slogan back. After the meeting, the BDO calls Abhishek to tell him that the piles slogan is not mandatory after a father of 6 in another village, offended by the slogan, burnt down the Panchayat office . Abhishek asks Pradhan if he wants to reconsider his decision but the Pradhan, inspired by Sardar Patel says that his decision is final.
5	"Computer Nahi Monitor"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Frustrated by the lack of night life in the village, Abhishek decides to drink beer but forgets to lock the door of his room and finds his monitor stolen from the panchayat office the next morning. A furious Pradhan reprimands Abhishek for being careless and asks him to find a new accommodation. Abhiskek and Prahlad lodge an FIR at the local police station. A police officer arrives later at the panchayat office and suspects Abhishek of stealing the monitor for money. The officer along with Pradhan and others interrogate an irritated Abhishek who then explains his frustration because of his village routine and lonely life. Abhishek's outburst convinces Pradhan of his innocence. That night, Pradhan arranges a party along with Prahlad and Vikas to cheer Abhishek up. The next morning, Abhishek finds his stolen monitor returned, with a note saying the monitor was mistaken for a television.
6	"Bahot Hua Samman"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Abhishek is having his photograph taken for the exam and Vikas gets into a verbal altercation with two men trying to sit on Abhisheks bike. The men threaten to "fix" him when he shows up to get his photos the next day. Vikas wants to involve the Pradhan in this but Abhishek stops him. Next day when he goes to pick up his photo's , the photographer says that since he got into a tussle with men from his village, he is supporting them and he has deleted his pics. The men call him at night to taunt him. Now Abhishek has to take Pradhans help to resolve the matter
7	"Ladka Tez Hai Lekin.."	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Pradhanji fixed his daughter’s marriage to a guy whose family demanding 20 lakh rupees as dowry. When Pradhanji asked Abhishek about the situation he told he won’t take dowry from anyone even if he would got a good salary which impresses Pradhanji. Then he started testing Abhishek’s ability whether he’ll crack the CAT examination or not , meanwhile a couple is fighting over their son’s name which Abhisek suggested. Finally Pradhanji decided to ask Abhishek about marriage by let her daughter choose any finger between two , The same way the arguing couple decide their son’s name. But ,on the day of examination Pradhanji and Vikas found that Abhishek’s exam has not gone well. So he has no option to change his decision.
8	"Jab Jaago Tabhi Savera"	Deepak Kumar Mishra	Chandan Kumar	3 April 2020
Abhishek is not in a good mood even after 2months of his CAT examination , Vikas tries to cheer him up. Abhishek vent out all frustrations on him later apologizes. Somedays before the Republic day Manju devi taunts Abhishek for not cleared the CAT examination, where he taunts back as Manju devi is the actual Sarpanch but , every year Pradhanji hosted the flag ceremony. Which prompted Manju devi to learn the National anthem of India as she decided to host the flag ceremony, but fails to remember the National anthem. On the day of Republic day the District Magistrate notices the banner as Pradhanji is the Sarpanch and decides to go as an inquiry , where she about to suspend Abhishek Manju devi arrives. Then she hosted the flag ceremony and everyone celebrates. Abhishek realised his mistake and decided to try one more year for the CAT examination. At last he climbs on the water tank as his colleagues suggested earlier to fall in love with the village , where he meets Rinky , daughter of Pradhanji as the episode comes to an end.

References

1. "Watch the Trailer for TVF's Panchayat, Out in April on Prime Video". NDTV Gadgets 360. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
2. DelhiMarch 30, India Today Web Desk New; March 30, 2020UPDATED; Ist, 2020 14:09. "Jitendra Kumar reunites with Neena Gupta in web series Panchayat. Watch trailer". India Today. Retrieved 8 April 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. "Panchayat Release Date, Cast, Story, Trailer, All Episode Watch on Prime". AuditionForm News. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
4. Maheshwari, Aayushi (5 April 2020). "Panchayat : TVF presents new series starring Jitendra Kumar aka Jeetu Bhaiya on Amazon Prime Video 2020". Headlines of Today. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
5. World, Republic. "Panchayat cast list: List of actors and the characters they play in the series". Republic World. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
6. "Neena Gupta On Panchayat: "I Didn't Think Anyone Will Watch The Series"". NDTV.com. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
7. MumbaiApril 6, Press Trust of India; April 6, 2020UPDATED; Ist, 2020 17:55. "Raghubir Yadav on Panchayat: The script has captured the real essence of a village". India Today. Retrieved 28 April 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
8. BingePost, Team (16 April 2020). "Panchayat Web Series: Download Offline on App or Watch Online – Cast & Plot". Binge Post. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

External links

• Amazon Prime Video
• IMDb