Rajeev Saxena
It is a good sign to see diverse script based web series on the OTT platform. In view of the changing trends of the audience, almost all the OTT channels these days are coming up with topics that attract the general public in one way or the other. That is, raising burning issues.
Even years before the three-tier system of Panchayati Raj was implemented in the country, there was a long tradition in Indian villages to sit on the chaupal and solve all kinds of village matters through the Panchs. Due to democracy, this system was started on the national scale as the lowest judicial branch of the country, followed by the Janpad Panchayat or Panchayat Samiti and the process of formation of the Zilla Parishad at the district level. With the passage of time, this system also underwent many changes and gradually, on the lines of all other systems, the Panchayat system also became almost a joke.
In the webseries ‘Panchayat’ produced under the banner of TVF, an interesting yet sensitive script was woven into a fictional basis based on Phulera, a village panchayat in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. Its first season on Amazon Prime last year received unexpected appreciation from the audience. Encouraged by this, the channel got its makers to make the second part of the series after a long hiatus.
In the first season of Panchayat, the story involving the newly appointed secretary of Phulera Gram Panchayat was dropped at a special juncture. From there it was carried forward in the second part. Young Abhishek, who dreams of becoming a senior officer in a government department, attracts the third-class post of secretary of the village panchayat in times of struggle, and he accepts this appointment without thinking back and forth. As soon as he sets foot in the village, not only one, but many types of challenges are standing in front of him with a huge size.
From the behavior, traditions and environment of the people of the village, it proves to be his destiny to become a sandwich of pressure from the lower level local politics and the higher district level officials. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, how the democratic structure of the Panchayat system has been blown up on the real ground in the past years, this series has been presented with a very fine overview. Especially if the sarpanch or village headman is a woman, then the matter of giving importance to the husband in his place has been well highlighted.
The story of a village panchayat in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, shot in a village in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh, exemplifies the similarity of the panchayat system in both the states. The use of the domineering MLA for his own ego and the village head for vote bank, exposes the bitter truth of the system. Actor Neena Gupta along with actor Raghuveer Yadav with solid theatre, and Jitendra Kumar in the role of secretary impressed. Although both the parts of the series managed to maintain their originality, the second part, as compared to the first part, could not keep the audience engaged with the story.