Like MCU, why not a village cinematic universe?: 'Panchayat' director

Hindustan Times

03-05-2025

Mumbai, "Panchayat" director Deepak Kumar Mishra on Saturday said he is open to the idea of a village cinematic universe that would include his shows as well as other village-theme productions.
"Panchayat" has been one of the most critically-acclaimed shows for streaming service Prime Video, which recently released another village-theme show, "Dupahiya". The streamer is coming out with a third series in the genre with "Gram Chikitsalay".
Speaking at a session during the inaugural World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit , Mishra shared that when he first began working on the series, there was no intention of creating a shared universe of village-based stories.
"This wasn't intentional. But if it happens, then I wouldn't mind at all. Just like there's a Marvel Cinematic Universe, there could be a village cinematic universe too. Whether there will be crossovers or not - we'll see that later.
"But yes, it would be great if such a universe emerges, with stories that are both inter-dependent and independent. That would be really nice," the director said.
At the session, titled "Making of Panchayat Grassroot storytelling Amazon Prime", Mishra was joined by the show's writer Chandan Kumar as well as actors Jitendra Kumar, Raghubir Yadav and Sunita Rajwar.
The team unveiled the official teaser of the upcoming fourth season, which will debut on Prime Video on July 2.
Mishra said the reason behind the success of "Panchayat" is that the team ensured that the show's world felt authentic.
"From the beginning, our intention was to stay true to the story and the world, the kind we've actually seen in our own villages. We kept many things in mind while building that world, especially the setting," he said, adding that all the seasons of the show were filmed at real locations.
"Our mantra was: whenever in doubt, don't do the right thing — do the real thing. Across all departments, we took extreme care to ensure everything remained as real as possible," he said.
Jitendra, who plays the lead role of Abhishek Tripathi in the series, said he wasn't supposed to be a part of "Panchayat".
"I wasn't even expecting to perform in it. The initial concept was to tell the story set inside a panchayat office, something like the US show 'The Office', focusing on a few interior characters. But once they did recce and deeper research, they realised it couldn't stay confined to the office — they had to step out into the world.
"When they needed a panchayat secretary, that's when I got involved — I could be part of the show as Abhishek, the Panchayat Sachiv. That's how my journey with the show began," he said.
When he first started shooting for the series, Jitendra said he was quite anxious as he didn't know if things were landing right.
"I wasn't sure whether the subtler humour would connect the way loud jokes did. I was really worried... I was trying to find the right balance, because I hadn't done a character like this before," he said, adding that the team at TVF watched the rushes and assured him that he was on the right track.
"They told me, 'Just keep performing the way Chandan is guiding you. It's going well.' That gave me some ease, and I started enjoying the process. I was lucky to have such talented co-actors — Raghubir Sir, Neena Ma'am, Sunita Ma'am, Chandan, Faisal Sir — they really helped me," Jitendra said.