Panchayat season 4 review: The show returns with its heart intact but its pace is lost in politics

Phulera may still feel like home, but with politics taking over and the pace slowing down, Panchayat’s latest season walks a fine line between nostalgia and creative fatigue.

Over the past few years, Indian audiences have, to some extent, shifted their gaze away from the loud, high-octane dramas that once dominated screens and have instead found comfort in grounded stories. There’s a growing affection for shows that pause to observe the simplest things in life. It's during this shift that a show like Panchayat found its footing by telling the story of a small village with big hearts and no rush. The show, celebrating the absurdities of everyday life, became a reason for audiences to fall in love with the earlier seasons.

But this time, when the curtains lift on Panchayat Season 4, the usual sense of calm we have seen and loved in the show is replaced with something more urgent. The village, which is always caught up in its everyday quirks, now finds itself in the middle of an election race. Abhishek Tripathi, while still figuring out his reluctant government posting, is now caught between personal crossroads and a full-blown political battle that threatens to change Phulera.

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The new season focuses almost entirely on the election battle between Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) and Kranti Devi (Sunita Rajwar). The camps led by Pradhan Ji and Bhushan are locked in a noisy, chaotic fight to win over the villagers by any means possible, be it delivering emotional speeches, using clever manipulation, or even handing out potatoes and samosas for votes.

While the show still has that familiar charm that made it so loved in the first place, this season doesn’t quite manage to recapture the same magic as the earlier ones. The story moves slowly while spending too much time dragging out moments that feel like they don’t really need that much attention. The politics adds an interesting commentary on how local democracy works in rural India, but it also ends up feeling like the show is trying too hard to be serious, often drifting from the light, slice-of-life tone that made the first two seasons so enjoyable to watch. For instance, the mystery of who shot Pradhan Ji in the last season, although solved, happens quite later, while other subplots like the visit of Manju Devi’s father feel unnecessary without adding much to the story.

Even though the writing is not at its strongest, the performances from the cast are still excellent, and they manage to keep you invested even when the story starts to lose its pace. Neena Gupta does a great job showing how Manju Devi is growing more confident and starting to take charge in ways she hadn’t before, while Raghubir Yadav’s Pradhan Ji feels a bit lost and desperate, as if the writers weren’t sure what new direction to take his character in. Faisal Malik brings a lot of emotion to the role of Prahlad, who is still dealing with the grief of losing his son, and he becomes one of the few characters who genuinely moves you in the middle of all the political noise. Jitendra Kumar continues to be solid as Abhishek, but sadly, he is still stuck between preparing for an MBA, dealing with official complaints, and trying to figure out his feelings for Rinki, without any major development in any of those.

The season still manages to deliver moments that feel lived-in and authentic. Scenes where characters share drinks or casually tease one another bring back the warmth that Panchayat is known for. Phulera remains a character in itself, with its dusty roads, the Gram Panchayat office, and familiar faces giving the audience a sense of return. The humor, while less frequent, still lands when it counts, and the dialogue remains sharp, snarky, and deeply rooted in its setting. Some side characters like Binod finally get their time to shine, and his line, “Ghareeb hoon, gaddar nahi” stands out as one of the most powerful lines this season. Supporting characters like Madhav (Bulloo Kumar) and Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) add fairly to the story with comic relief, though Kranti Devi, despite her potential as a compelling rival, doesn’t get the screen time she deserves.

The show starts to slip with the slow and repetitive election storyline, which stretches itself over eight episodes without enough surprises or emotional growth to keep the momentum going. While the satire on village politics is done well without turning too preachy, the other elements, like Abhishek’s future or the romance with Rinki, end up feeling incomplete or forgotten. The tone has also shifted a lot from how things were in Seasons 1 and 2, where humor and heart were perfectly balanced. This season leaned too much into drama and lost the fun that made it stand out in the first place. It feels like the plot is scattered, holding on to the cast to carry the weak writing.

In the end, Panchayat Season 4 is not a bad season by any means. It still has heart, feels real, and gives you a few touching and funny moments that stay with you. However, you also cannot ignore noticing whether the show is running a little low on fresh ideas. The open-ended finale suggests that there’s more to come in Season 5, and while fans will likely return for the love of the characters, it’s time the makers find a better balance between politics and personality. If you’re a fan ready to return to the show, just manage your expectations and enjoy the performances, even if the story moves more slowly this time.

Panchayat Season 4 is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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