WOMEN IN CHARGE

NEENA GUPTA AND SUNITA RAJWAR TALK ABOUT THE GROWING CLOUT OF THEIR CHARACTERS IN PANCHAYAT SEASON 4

- Suhani Singh

Few can claim to be “India’s most loved show” and get away with it. The Viral Fever’s Panchayat is that rare show which does have the bragging rights. Packed with wry observations on everyday life and human behaviour in the hinterland and memorable characters, the Amazon Prime Video series has entered its fourth season, an incredible feat in itself. Actor Neena Gupta credits the writing of Chandan Kumar and the work put in by director Deepak Kumar Mishra. “Season after season, they do something special. I wait for the script. I don't know how they do it,” she says. “We don’t need to improvise; sab kuchh milta hai [everything's there in the script itself].” She further attributes apt casting for the show's suecess, which has seen actors become synonymous with their parts, with some even featuring in viral memes (type Binod, Bhushan and Bam Bahadur in Google and get ready for laughs).

One such character to have struck a chord is the mean confron-tational machine that’s Kranti Devi, played by the talented Sunita Rajwar. “Wherever you are from, people love Panchayat because you can watch it with your family,” she says.

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