Jitendra Kumar on Panchayat Season 2: The feeling of being a misfit in a job and aspiring for more is every youth’s story

The audience wants to know that will Abhishek, the character played by Jitendra Kumar in _Panchayat_ be able to clear CAT and get the perfect corporate job that he always dreamt of? This feeling of being a misfit in a job and aspiring for more is every youth’s story. Jitendra finds the character of Abhishek very relatable because he too had gone through similar situations. He considers himself lucky to be a part of the digital movement and he believes he is an actor because of the digital platform.

Edited excerpts from the interview:

How _Panchayat Season2_ has evolved and what happens to Abhishek?

The characters have evolved. A few new characters have been added in Season2. The village and the simplicity of the people as shown remain the same. Panchayat’s innocence resonates with people. His studies continue. But now he has gotten comfortable in village life.

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Your journey as ‘Abhishek’ in Panchayat…

There are many stories in the villages and very unique stories and characters. I was a part of TVF, The Viral Fever, a YouTube entertainment channel at that time. Initially, films revolved around village boys coming to cities to make a career. Now with Panchayat we wanted to show the reverse. When the conversation was about the character, everybody said that I was the right fit for the role.

Preparation for the role…

The kind of villages I have seen is very different from the one shown in Panchayat. In Panchayat, the village shown is modern and it shows the transition. The writer and director of Panchayat through both seasons had done on the ground research. And this helped me to understand the story better. The character of Abhishek that I play is of the youth of today. There are many such youths who have gone through similar phases in their life because the employment situation is bad now and the population is huge which is the biggest problem in our country.

The youth of today are educated, but they always feel they are not getting jobs as per their capabilities. There is a desire in them to do better in life. The desire to get a job in an IT company or a big corporate and have a good salary and lead a luxurious lifestyle is every youth’s dream. But sadly, that doesn’t always happen. Here in ‘Panchayat’, it is shown through Abhishek that the job that he gets is not what he wanted and feels that he is a misfit in the village atmosphere. This feeling of being a misfit in a job and aspiring for more is every youth’s story. So, I didn’t have to work much on the back story. I had to just look within myself because I have also gone through similar situations in life. Panchayat 2 will be equally relatable as Panchayat 1. I hope the audience also enjoys it.

On managing to do different types of roles…

The most important job of making a show or a film successful is that of the writer and the director. If the script is good and the imagination of the director is out of the box, it helps a lot. So far, all the directors I have worked with have literally held my hand and helped me to perform well. They are the ones offering me different roles and helping me in each step of my performance.

I also try to look around and find similarities with the characters around me. Sometimes I try to find people who have gone through similar situations and put them in my performance. My own life experiences also play an important part in my craft.

On Jeetu Bhaiya’s character in Kota Factory…

I had also done IIT preparation for two years and I have come across many such teachers. I had also been a teacher. But the character of Jeetu Bhaiya is very different from mine. Kota Factory reference with my life is huge. In the digital age, there is so much material available online. I also heard the lectures of the teachers and learned their mannerisms from them.

On OTT being a gamechanger…

I consider myself lucky that when I came to Mumbai and started acting Digital shows were just picking up. TVF was making a lot of shows then. And I was at the right place at the right time. And that’s how my journey in the digital platform started. I consider myself to be lucky to be part of the digital movement.

This digital movement brought about a change in the whole entertainment industry not only for actors, directors and writers but for the audiences too. Now everybody appreciates real cinema. Had digital not been there, it probably would have taken a lot of time in the industry because getting a chance in movies and television is a different ball game. I didn’t even know whom to meet and how to convey to the people that I could act. So, the digital platform has been a big saviour. This era is all about having a digital presence and I am an actor today because of the digital platform. Thankfully because of the digital platform the stories are also rooted and there are no heroes, but the protagonist and every character of a show or film on a digital platform are important. Audiences are more interested in content now. And because of the digital platform viewers don’t believe in hero-worship anymore.

Panchayat Season 2 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video

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