'Panchayat 4' web-series review: Neena Gupta makes the new season better than the last, but it's time to move on

Cast: Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav, Faisal Malik, Chandan Roy, Sanvikaa, Durgesh Kumar, Sunita Rajwar, Ashok Pathak, Pankaj Jha

Director: Akshat Vijaywargiya, Deepak Kumar Mishra

Language: Hindi

There’s something about recurring web series. Pankaj Tripathi’s Criminal Justice has been renewed for four seasons with zero reasons. It can be called as the Golmaal or Housefull of the OTT platform. It’s almost debatable to see the terrific and tenacious Panchayat coming back with season four as well. It all began in 2020 and now the lived-in characters of Phulera return. There was something refreshing about the world that we saw five years ago about an outsider who tries to make his own space and station in a world he’s completely oblivious too. This could be Jitendra Kumar’s Swades. At first, he’s a complete headless chicken until he begins to absorb the stench and fragrance of the milieu he’s been thrown in.

By the time the first season ended, he felt like one of them too. Just like Mohan Bhargava. Season two felt more personal and wrenching. The finale was throbbing. But the last season felt like an over-stretch. The only question you kept asking was- Was it ever needed in the first place? But before we could process the answer, we have a new season on Prime Video. The spotlight this time is on the inimitable Manju Devi played by the inimitable Neena Gupta. The backdrop is the village election. It’s Manju Devi vs Kranti Devi. The quirky one liners and background music are going to keep the tone light. But the humour is now wearing thin. You can even guess the joke before the characters crack them.

Panchayat seems to have got too enamoured by the success and spotlight of the first two seasons that it came back for two more. In economics, there’s a concept of law of diminishing marginal utility. There’s a graph that goes right up and then comes crashing down to negative. Here, the line doesn’t go to its absolute nadir fortunately. Number 4 has more laughs than number 3. The last season unfolded at a leisurely pace. A father had just lost his son and took its own rightful time to come to terms with the devastating loss. This time, it’s all about business between two women and we have to choose between the lesser evil.

Pankaj Kha, Raghubir Yadav, Faisal Malik have now imbibed the characters traits to the point of turning repetitive. A sense of predictability has crept in. Gupta as the fragile yet fierce housewife now contesting elections tries her best to keep the boat afloat. And Kumar is no longer the puppet in the hands of a handful of puppeteers. He’s now a viewer watching and witnessing this puppetry and pandemonium unfold. He also has plans to leave. It has been five years after all. At least for us. There’s no Baahubali like cliffhanger for Panchayat, and yet the makers think they have something to offer the viewers. There could be season 5. Village life rocks. But it’s now time to move on.

Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars)

Panchayat season 4 is now streaming on Prime Video