Panchayat S4 Review: No Magic, Just Manufactured Masala
India’s most loved show, “Panchayat,” is back again with its fourth outing. But does it still have the same warm and cozy vibe, or has the magic worn off? Let’s find out.
When released in 2020, among the overfilled Indian OTT space of thrillers and gore, Panchayat felt like a homemade meal of Dal Chawal. Amazon Prime Video India and TVF truly made our lockdown enjoyable with the entire family. Since then, times have changed, and so have our very own Phulera and its inhabitants. The show slowly shifted its gears, and the dal chawal was now a biriyani.
But when you have biriyani too frequently, thanks to the food delivery apps (OTT platforms in this case), it makes you feel sick and tired and miss the good old dal chawal. This has been the case with this show lately.
Storyline
Season 4 begins a few days after the cliffhanger ending of Season 3 when the entire team of Pradhanji and Bhushan, along with the Vidayak, was locked up due to their brawl. Now we can see with the Panchayat elections knocking on the door, the teams of Manju Devi and Kranti Devi are hell bent on leaving no stone unturned to leave a mark with the voters. They can go to any extent just to topple the opposition and win the election. But who will finally win it? Go find the answer yourself on Amazon Prime Video.
What Works?
Performance
Panchayat started with the story of Abhishek Tripathy, who was out of options and had to join the job of Sachivji. But slowly it shifted from him and we found our favourites among Vikash, Prahlad, Vinod, Bhushan, and others. Every actor, despite being in just a small role, didn’t just give their best to it, but also turned us into their fans. But this season, the standout performance was from Vinod. He was given a very different character arc this time, and he nailed it in every scene. Especially in Episode 3. Apart from that, there was an exceptional performance from Durgesh Kumar aka Bhushan, and Pankaj Jha as Vidayak.
All the other actors like Neena Gupta, Chandan Roy, Jitendra Kumar, and Faisal Malik gave their best and don’t need to be reminded of. But in the climax, Raghubir Yadav probably gave the performance of his life. Watch out!
Hidden Meanings and Emotions
The main USP of this show was that it reminded us of the serious issues lurking in our society without being too serious or dark. This time, though, it was missing in most of the episodes; the third, penultimate, and final episode got the essence back. Those episodes are designed to be seen in a different light by every viewer depending on their current mood and mindset. Suppose you are in a very happy mood and are here for the laughs, you will find it funny, but if you are feeling a bit low, you will be able to notice the hidden emotions behind each scene.
But sadly, these were the only pros of Season 4!
What doesn’t work?
Comedy
Well to be honest, the bottom line of Panchayat is that it’s a comedy show. But if this show fails to pack the comedy punch, will it ever feel good? Throughout the length of the 8 episodes, this show lacks comedy scenes and witty lines. Without a certain incident in Episode 2, I couldn’t find any ROFL moment in the entire show.
Yes, there are some comedy punches here and there, but they feel forced and unnatural, which makes this biriyani feel bland.
Dialogues
TVF has always been known for its amazing writing and dialogue. Be it Pitchers, Aspirants, or Kota Factory. But to my absolute shock, this season lacked any notable dialogue! If you have been active on social media, you would have noticed that several dialogues from the earlier seasons have been absolute viral meme materials. But this time, without a single yet powerful dialogue from Vinod, nothing is even close to memorable.
Emotional Depth
Remember the old woman in Season 3 who was so desperate to get a house that she went beyond every extent? Then one day, Prahlad took her to his home just to make her realise that a home is incomplete without a family. This show has always been about these small yet touching emotional depths. But for the major chunk of this season, we don’t get any emotional depth.
Yes, there are some scenes, and most of them were based around Vinod and Ashok Pathak pulled it off with absolute brilliance. But what made me happy was that in the final two episodes, I got that lost essence back.
Writing
Imagine your best friend’s been raving about this biryani place for weeks. You finally go together, expectations sky-high. But a few spoonfuls in, you realize—tons of masala, barely any taste. Disappointed much? TVF’s writing this season was just like that. As mentioned earlier, there are very less comedy scenes with no memorable dialogues. Topping that was a stretched screenplay, mostly in the opening episodes.
What could’ve been a tight 5-episode arc is needlessly dragged to 8. It feels like Amazon Prime India slapped a bounty on this show, pushing the makers to rush it out within a year of Season 3. The result? A hasty mess that strips the series of everything it once had.
Twist and Turns
The show lacked any major twists and turns this season. I could easily predict what the election results would be, and the same happens in the finale! But even after Season 4, we still don’t have a clear answer to – “Who shot Pradhanji in Season 3?”
Final Words
2025 has been a year of underdogs, not just in sports but also in Panchayat. The show shifted its gears on the opposition, and all of them gave the performances of their life. But despite all the noise and shouts, I would like to see more magic than masala. Do we need another season, or could we have given this show an emotional farewell?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
My Rating – 2.8
Avik
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