Panchayat Season 4 Review: Politics Gets Personal in Phulera

Panchayat Season 4 brings many new challenges to protagonist Abhishek and to its audience as election season in the town dominates the narrative. While the season drags in its later half, it delivers a shocking finale that upturns Phulera’s political and social life.

Panchayat Season 4 returns to Phulera, the small village in Uttar Pradesh, with Abhishek and his friends in a conundrum after the tumultuous conclusion to Season 3, where an all-out fistfight breaks out between our main crew and their political opponents. 

Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek Tripathi is amusing as always, and moves away from his usual role as the voice of reason to settle these small-town squabbles to a more involved role. He now has a much more personal stake in the current election, with the legal case pending against him.

This season’s primary challenge for protagonist Abhishek and his friends is the ever-scheming Bhushan (a.k.a. Banrakas), played by Durgesh Yadav, and his wife Kranti Devi, who are their primary opponents in the election to the Panchayat, the local town-level government.

Both play a major role this season, stepping into them with ease, and it feels like a natural continuation of their previous plots.

Bhushan is one of the most cunning and annoying characters (complete with a playful musical cue every time he appears on screen), and Yadav is clearly enjoying personifying Bhushan’s particularly conniving nature, as he tries to find a way to one-up his opponent and current Pradhan, Brijbhushan Dubey. 

This season takes on a much more serious tone than the previous one, being in the aftermath of the current Pradhan’s shooting. What used to be merely petty fights and rivalries has now led to blood being spilled, and this makes the stakes of the race a lot more apparent.

Abhishek often gets caught in the crossfire, as do both Prahlad and Vikas, amidst personal insults and attacks.

As serious as it does get, the short breaks of humor are much appreciated, especially in Panchayat Season 4 Episode 4 “Shakti Pradarshan,” where friend of our main characters, Bam Bahadur (Amit Kumar Maurya), makes a courageous attempt to protect the Pradhan from accusations of corruption with some hilarious hijinks involved.

Another reprieve from the election race is the increasingly serious romance between Rinki (Sanvikaa), the Pradhan’s daughter, and Abhishek.

Their interactions are, frankly, adorably awkward, as they get closer and closer to acknowledging their feelings for each other out loud. This makes for a particularly compelling storyline for Abhishek, too, who has become much more invested in the town’s politics than he originally planned, and has to decide if he actually wants to leave or not.

A special standout in this season is Ashok Pathak’s Binod, who may be on the wrong side from the audience’s perspective but is always so earnest you simply have to root for him. He faces a true test of his loyalty to Bhushan in Panchayat Season 4 Episode 3 “Vachan,” and Pathak plays this so well, with a pitch-perfect mix of hesitation and stubborn loyalty.

Pankaj Jha also makes a memorable return as MLA Chandrakishore Singh, this time on the other side of power, and you really love to hate him every time he comes on screen.

His rather threatening aura from the previous seasons is dulled by his being on the wrong side of power, but his bluster is still entertaining to watch. 

Where the season falters is in its exploration of just how the shooting of Pradhan Dubey impacted him. His characteristic wit has sharpened significantly, but aside from that and several comments from his opponents on how he was using his injury to curry sympathy, there is no in-depth exploration of the trauma he clearly suffered.

It all comes boiling over in the face of his election loss in the finale, but the story would have benefited from some more time spent on the aftermath of his injury, specifically for him.

The finale takes a shocking turn as we learn that the current Pradhan lost the election by a mere 73 votes, leaving both Phulera’s residents and the audience shell-shocked.

All of the main cast deliver somber performances as the characters realize they must deal with Bhushan and Kranti Devi, the town’s main politicians.

This finale leaves Abhishek in a unique quandary: should he decide to stay and do his best to mitigate the damage that Bhushan may inflict on the town, or should he finally take the opportunity that he got with his good exam scores to leave behind Phulera (and Rinki) and get his MBA? 

Panchayat Season 4 delivers the small-town petty politics typical of the show so far, along with a more serious tone that keeps its audience engaged and eagerly awaiting our next return to Phulera.

 

---

What did you think of Panchayat Season 4? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to leave your own rating!

Critic Rating:

Audience Rating:

 

All episodes of Panchayat Season 4 are streaming now on Prime Video.

Check out our latest TV recommendations, updated weekly!

Want more from Tell-Tale TV? Subscribe to our newsletter here!