Going by the old adage that “India lives in the villages,” it would be cliché to acknowledge the recent phenomenon of filming the “real” India for “real” Indians. Earlier this month, the third season of Amazon Prime's hugely popular web series “Panchayat” premiered with much hype. So far, the series seems to be delivering on its promises, with viewership numbers only growing. However, as some critics claim, the once-beloved “Pulela Gaon” of the panchayat has been caught up in a “political maelstrom,” casting doubt on the show's earlier vibe, as journalist Vibha Maru puts it. She points out that the “Pulela” of “Pulela” has lost its luster. Maru points out that the simplicity of Malgudi Days at Malulela and Pakori Bazaar is fading, which becomes more plausible given that OTT platforms are increasingly relying on big data to cater to specific audience tastes and perpetuate certain aesthetics and trends.
The Multi-layered Picture of 21st Century India
What initially seemed like a timeless Indian fairy tale featuring IIM aspirant-turned-village secretary Abhishek (Jitendra Kumar) and his enthusiastic companion Vikas (Chandan Roy), supported by Brij Bhushan Dubey (Raghubir Yadav), Manju Devi (Neena Gupta), Prahlad Pandey (Faisal Malik), Rinki (Sangvikar), Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) and Vinod (Ashok Pathak), has now evolved into a story that embraces the social, political and gender complexities endemic to suburban India in the 21st century. The question remains: how idyllic is Panchayat's on-screen India, and how credible is its fictional village's transformation into a darker reality?
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Given the series' widespread appeal, opinions have unsurprisingly been divided. Ashwani Kumar, a political scientist and professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, suggests that Panchayat challenges “the enduring image of pristine rural reality depicted in classics such as Do Bigha Zamin (1953), Patel Panchali (1955) and Mother India (1957).” Instead, Panchayat presents “a delightful and fascinating cinematic ethnography of the indigenous cosmopolitanism of Indian villages.”
Eschewing stereotypical, crude and unrealistic utopian portrayals of rural life, Panchayat Pulera offers a cinematic journey through an Indian village that Ashish Nandy describes as “a time travel to your potential self”, where authentic Indian experience counterpoints contrived fake portrayals of villages. Amitava Bhattacharjee, rural cultural entrepreneur and founder of banglanatak.com, agrees with the theme of representational realism and says Panchayat strikes a balance by portraying rural life faithfully, showing both its charms and challenges.
“Just like Durdarshan many moons ago.”
These perspectives pretty much summed up the critical take on the series until the release of season three. According to Bhattacharjee, up until the previous seasons, Panchayat had explored the daily lives of simple villagers, highlighting the absurdity and inefficiency of local bureaucracy through a “situation comedy” that focused on their interactions and challenges. The story revolved around the journey of a city graduate as he settles into village life. Bhattacharjee emphasised that the success of the series was not just in its portrayal of rural India, but in its revival of a rural genre without guns, crime and bloodshed. Mumbai- and Delhi-based writer and entrepreneur Sriti Tyagi says the series was reminiscent of “the Doordarshan serials of long ago”.
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This sentiment was echoed by filmmaker and Al Jazeera journalist Gautam Singh, who praised the series for its sharp portrayal of humour and authenticity of rural India, particularly its capture of the nuances of the “Purvanchali Bori” dialect of the eastern Uttar Pradesh state, which includes Bahria district.
Theatre and OTT audience
But Singh cautions that no single show can fully capture rural diversity. It's therefore important to consider the broader political context that shapes OTT series like Panchayat. Harish Wankhede, professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University, points out that a stylized view of the city is shaping new representations of rural and suburban India. “There's a clear bifurcation between the sensibilities of theatre-going audiences and the aesthetics of OTT,” he adds.
Wankhede laments that in many of these ostensibly realistic portrayals of rural India, the complexities of caste continue to be ignored. Ritvika Singh, professor of English at IGNOU, further points out that OTT platforms pander to the interests of the social elite and fail to address deeply rooted issues of caste dynamics. “Given that all the main characters in the series are from a particular caste, the casual erasure of caste functions as a tried and tested way for mainstream audiences to avoid dealing with difficult issues,” she says.
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This observation resonates with Jitendra Kumar's realisation that OTT platforms have garnered huge traction among urban youth, who look forward to returning home to watch their favourite web series after their office hours, where 'authenticity' has become both a buzzword and a contentious concept.
Ritvika Singh points out that while season one of Panchayat portrayed rural life faithfully, it has since become less realistic. “What if panchayat elections were fought on caste-based lines (as is often the case in real life)? Would a pradhan have the same circle of peers if he wasn't from a privileged background? Would he accept a secretary from a different caste? It would be more interesting to imagine a comedy on screen that is politically as well as emotionally aware of the social dynamics of a village.” Bhattacharjee agrees, suggesting that Panchayat could have delved into caste dynamics, gender inequality and economic disparity.
Ensure that panchayats do not become victims of their own success.
Despite the obvious shortcomings of the political narrative and the complex politics surrounding its viewing and incidental learning, as Kumar advises, the question is this: should Panchayat be a victim of its own success? The show deserves recognition for portraying an India that was deemed unworthy of mainstream portrayal until a decade ago. Rather than asking just Panchayat, we should ask what triggers the urban gaze to turn themes of frustration, aggression and violence towards small towns and so-called “uncivilized” parts of India, and why cities like Noida, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai are usually spared this treatment.
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Especially following the success of Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur (2012) two-part series, there has been a significant increase in the number of screenwriters and filmmakers from international cities who are dedicated to creating exotic stories set in rural India. Some may link this new OTT trend to the political changes in India since 2014. However, correlation does not necessarily mean causation.
So while the focus on Pulera may seem overly optimistic to serious critics, what if the medium itself is the message? Perhaps India's social and political destiny is in fact quietly brewing in its villages and small towns.
(The author is Professor of English at O.P. Jindal Global University)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.
