Leave apart dream job, Abhishek Tripathi’s fate has something totally different decided for him. As he can’t crack a place in the company he thinks he belongs to, Abhishek has to move to a remote village where he has got a Rs 20k per month job of Panchayat Secretary.
Far out from his comfort zone, this job and place is a perfect roller-coaster ride for him. Chandan Kumar’s screenplay is an example of power-packed writing. It’s just like that “rich healthy thaali” that you can excitedly jump upon and relish bit by bit.
From endearing characters to some really well-written dialogues, this show has a lot to offer. Be it the “square peg in the round hole” side of Abhishek, his bromance with Vikas and Prateek or the chemistry of Manju Devi and Brij, the show makes you happy with a lot of things. Good humour, some sweet moments along with some really important messages does the work of soul food. However, there’s a big problem with the screenplay that it’s boring and hardly keeps you engaged. It rarely happens when the writer has so much to give but still, the story fails to keep you hooked. Panchayat faces the same issue. And that’s where this “rich healthy thaali” becomes tasteless.
Jitendra Kumar keeps on getting better and shines as the frustrated city guy in the village. He is pitch-perfect and gets totally into the skin of the character that he plays. Notice him in the scenes where he has to reflect a very controlled kind of anger especially the scene where he fights with the village goons. It could’ve easily turned out to be a similar scene as was shown in Pitchers but Jitendra seems to have followed what writer and director wanted from him. Raghubair Yadav gives another mindblowing performance as Pradhan Pati, Brij Bhushan Dubey. He is a terrifically natural actor and you’ll have no option but to become his fan by the end of the show. Neena Gupta is extremely adorable as Pradhan Manju Devi. This is yet another brilliant performance of her career and you will remember her character for a long time. Chandan Kumar will melt your heart with his character and performance. It’s a simple and sweet character that he plays but the little things about him and his performance do the trick. Prahlad Pandey is very good. Biswapati Sarkar is also very good in a small role. He has just 3-4 scenes but will bring a big smile on your face with his style of comedy.
Deepak Kumar Mishra has given a very good direction. He has made sure the setup of a village looks as authentic as possible. From the clothes of actors, their accent, their makeup, and their walking style everything has been taken care of and has been given the right direction. Fetching the right performances from actors is also done well as discussed above. The screenplay pace is tiring and can be boring.
Rating: 7/10