3

 

Panchayat, the favorite show of many, has now returned with the third installment. After teasing the audience for a while, Prime Video has finally dropped the series, and let’s see if it has lived up to the hype or not.

 

Story:

Prahlad (Faisal Malik) goes into depression after the death of his son and becomes addicted to alcohol. Sachiv Abhishek Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar) gets transferred, and this upsets Bhushan Dubey (Raghubir Yadav), Prahlad, and Vikas (Chandan Roy). The trio pulls out all the stops to restrict another person from becoming Sachiv (Secretary) of Phulera village. They succeed in their attempt, and Abhishek Tripathi returns to the village. This is also when enmity develops between Phulera village and MLA Chandrakishore Singh (Pankaj Jha). What happens next forms the crux of the story.

 

Plus Points:

The best part about Panchayat 3 is the neatly etched characterizations of Neena Gupta and Faisal Malik. They played supporting roles in the previous seasons, but these two will surely take you by surprise in the third installment with their adorable performances. Neena Gupta, who played a proxy president in the first two seasons, will take charge of things in Panchayat 3, and she tries to cover up the mistakes made by her husband. The veteran actress is superb in her role and captivates us whenever she appears on screen.

Prahlad, played by Faisal Malik, gets dejected by his son’s death, and the actor’s performance will move us to tears. The writers brought emotional depth to the show with Prahlad’s character, and his interaction scene with an old lady is purely heartwarming. Jitendra Kumar is impressive once again as Sachiv Ji, and his love track with Sanvikaa is pleasant.

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. In fact, the characters of the supporting artists are neatly written, and everyone makes their presence felt. The ending is pretty good, with a solid cliffhanger.

 

Minus Points:

The USP of the Panchayat franchise is its breezy humor and light-hearted approach, but in the third season, politics take center stage, and things become quite serious. Unlike the other two seasons, the new installment concentrates only on one theme, and those who expect comedy might get slightly disappointed. Striking a balance between humor and emotional moments could have taken the show to the next level.

The pacing 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 is slightly underwhelming due to the high standards set by the makers. A key character from Panchayat 1 returns, and hence, one would expect laugh-out-loud moments, but the writing here isn’t up to the mark.

 

Technical Aspects:

Anurag Saikia’s music is decent. Amitabha Singh’s cinematography is neat, and he once again beautifully depicts India’s rural heartland. The production values are good. As mentioned earlier, the editing is below par.

Deepak Kumar Mishra’s direction is decent but not great. The third season is more inclined towards politics, with more concentration on drama and emotions. There are hits and misses in the storytelling, with sluggish pacing being the key drawback.

 

Verdict:

On the whole, Panchayat’s third season is decent, with good performances by the lead cast and the emotional moments. The supporting actors also did a fine job, and they got more screen time. While the first two seasons are known for their breeziness, things become quite serious in the new season, with politics and emotions taking center stage. There are engaging moments, but the humor, which is the USP of this franchise, is missing. Also, the pacing is quite slow, and a few sequences are stretched unnecessarily. If you are okay with these flaws, you can watch this series.

123telugu.com Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team