In Phulera village in Uttar Pradesh, where time tends to move at a glacial pace, things are finally beginning to hot up. The contest between Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) and Kranti Devi (Sunita Rajwar) for the sarpanch’s post is round the corner. The threat of regime change assumes war-like proportions.
Manju Devi’s bottle gourd election symbol is being wielded with ferocity against Kranti Devi’s cooker. Manju Devi needs all the help she can get from her husband and ex-sarpanch Brij Bhushan (Raghubir Yadav), daughter Rinku (Sanvikaa) and supporters Vikas (Chandan Roy) and Prahlad (Faisal Malik). Kranti Devi’s ambitious husband Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) and his lackeys Binod (Ashok Pathak) and Madhav (Bulloo Kumar) have the backing of the legislator Chandrakishore (Pankaj Jha), who has a long-running beef with Brij Bhushan.
Although the new season of Prime Video’s Panchayat is organised around the election, there is occasion for village council secretary Abhishek (Jitendra Kumar) to ponder whether he should flee Phulera for good.
Abhishek has long been trying to clear the exam for a prestigious educational institute. But he has lowered himself deeper into the Phulera swamp than he cares to admit. He has lost his neutrality as a government employee and his heart to Rinku. He has genuine affection for Vikas and Prahlad.
Initially focusing on Abhishek’s fish-out-of-water experiences, Panchayat has evolved – or devolved in some respects – into a study of local-level politics. The Hindi comedy continues with the “six steps forward three steps backward” approach that has characterised it since the first season in 2020.
The more things change in Phulera, the more they stay the same – once an insight into the rural setting, this is now also a major source of contrivance. Hugely popular and spawning remakes in other languages too, Panchayat isn’t going to give up hard-earned territory in a hurry, just like Manju Devi.
The latest eight-episode instalment hypes the election, which invites an income tax raid and even the intervention of the “High Command”, represented by Member of Parliament (Swanand Kirkire). It appears at times that Manju Devi and Kranti Devi are competing to lead the country, rather than Phulera.
The tried-and-tested plot elements work far better than the new shenanigans. Writer Chandan Kumar and director Deepak Kumar Mishra – both veterans of the series – are adept at maintaining interest levels. The creators drop in sharply written stand-alone moments and entertaining non sequitur-heavy conversations whenever the electioneering gets out of hand, which is nearly always.
The core group – Abhishek, Manju Devi, Brij Bhushan, Vikas and Prahlad – continues to demand and earn emotional investment. Anything involving Vikas and Prahlad is a showstopper. Chandan Roy, as Vikas, and Faisal Malik, as Prahlad, have imbibed their fictional selves so completely that they can easily command a spin-off series.
Durgesh Kumar is a riot as Bhushan, as is Pankaj Jha as Chandrakishore. Their antics are nudging Panchayat into a direction that takes us further away from Abhishek’s dilemma. For all of Bhushan’s boundless scheming, it’s a miracle – or a convenient oversight – that he hasn’t cottoned on to the Abhishek-Rinku coupling, which remains as dull as ever.
Not for the first time, now more than ever, Abhishek wonders whether Phulera will survive without him. Panchayat is still laidback enough to postpone the decision for a few more seasons.
