Panchayat Season 3 review: Things go awry amid ‘rajniti ka mahaul’ in Phulera

Panchayat Season 3 review: When everyone in the country is talking about elections, can Phulera be left behind? Certainly not. The upcoming elections in Phulera have nothing to do with the Lok Sabha, but the panchayat elections – apt for a show that is the microcosmic reflection of the political and societal landscape of our vast country. 

But things are changing in Phulera – brought about by the resident villain MLA Chandra Kishore Singh (Pankaj Jha), who was introduced to us in the previous season. Things set in motion in the previous season of Panchayat have heavy bearings on this one. The lines between the factions who owe their allegiance to the MLA and to Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghuvir Yadav), the pradhan’s husband, are clearly drawn till the tragi-comic (mostly comic) climax, where things come to a head. 

The third season of Panchayat is an extension of the second season – our dear Prahlad (Faisal Malik) is devastated after the loss of his martyr son and spends his days drinking and sleeping, Vikas (Chandan Roy) is engaged in family planning, pradhan Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) is more worldly and smart these days, Rinki (Sanvikaa) dreams of making something out of her life (but is she convinced is a different matter altogether), pradhan-pati Brij Bhushan Dubey feels his voiced is a bit diminished but knows that he still rules the village, and sachiv ji Abhishek Tripathi is more convinced about his role in Phulera. 

Two days in Phulera are barely distinguishable from each other – if not for the shenanigans and the grievances of the villagers. But the ambitions of banrakas Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) and his wife Kranti Devi (Sunita Rajwar), set off a series of events that barely anyone can control. They are assisted by Madhav (Bulloo Kumar) and Binod (Ashok Pathak), two village simpletons, who are swayed – very easily – by Bhushan and Kranti Devi’s plans to strip pradhan and pradhan pati off their power. 

PANCHAYAT SEASON 3 REVIEW

This season feels like a deviation from the first two, more serious, more tragic, more action. Any fan of the series, like yours truly, would miss the innocence and the simpleness of the first two seasons. The third season feels more like a unit unlike the anthology-esque sequence of the first two seasons.

So, there are no frightful ‘bhooth ped’ this season, no ‘chakke wali kursi’, no slogans like ‘do bacche meethi kheer, do se jyaada bawaseer’, no teaching the National Anthem to the pradhan, no toilet wars, no use of CCTV to catch missing goats, no mix-up of old and new slippers at the temple – this season is more sombre in that sense. All the events boil down to the climax.

Nevertheless some things stay the same: Sachiv Tripathi is still always grumpy, Phulera still doesn't have roads, laukis are still of utmost importance in the village, and the people are still kind-hearted. 

Another notable deviation in this season is the point of view. In the first two seasons, Phulera was the ‘other’ entity we were meant to experience through the eyes of Abhishek Tripathi, who wished to leave the village once and for all. But this season, sachiv ji is part of Phulera, a place he feels at home. The grievances of the simple villagers are understandable, and not petty – they want brick-walled houses and roads. 

There is no ‘looking at’ Phulera anymore, but immersing in its experience now.  

Panchayat Season 3 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.