Every single review of Gram Chikitsalay, without fail, has compared this saucy, sassy, smart, and savvy series to that overrated satire on rural development Panchayat.
It’s like comparing City Of Joy with Do Bigha Zameen just because they are both about rural migration. In spirit, theme, and execution, Panchayat and Gram Chikitsalay are poles apart. At the risk of inviting furious frowns, I would say Gram Chikitsalay with its firm grip on the plot propulsion and characterizations, is leaps ahead of Panchayat, and if at all it has sought inspiration from the earlier village fable, then good: every work of art comes from a place of inspiration.
Not that Gram Chikitsalay is fully vaccinated against ailments (it IS about rural healthcare, hence…). There are passages where the village folk take all the time in the world to get to the point. It’s okay for them. But for us to be subjected to their languorous lifestyle and prolonged discussions on missing vaccines and unattended hydrosil cases takes some re-acclimatization, which I happily undertook.
Yes, the series is worth it. The character of the cantankerous old man who has used the land leading to the dispensary for farming, with his cackling sardonicism, is a hoot. And mind you, this is just a minor character. Almost all the major characters are vividly imagined and played.
Amol Parashar as Prabhat Sinha, determined to bring healthcare to a remote village, fighting all sorts of odds and oddballs, brings a certain sincerity to the character, which I found largely missing in Panchayat. Akash Makhija, Prabhat’s assistant and eventually a trusted confidante, is a revelation. At places, he is only required to stand watching the circumstantial circus being played out. But we know that he knows.
Another unknown actor in the forefront of the plot is Anandeshwar Dwivedi, who plays Phutani, a member of the doctor hero’s team who has plenty to answer for and is man enough to take up the challenge.
My favourite sequence occurs somewhere in mid-series. At a village wedding, Prabhat Sinha confronts the village’s unqualified illicit doctor, Chetak Kumar (Vinay Pathak, why don’t we see more of this brilliant actor?). When the quack explains to the certified doctor why patients prefer to come to him, a serious lesson of life is served up along with the food on the table: healing is not about certificates; it’s about trust.
Trust this series to bullet-fire homilies without bruising. I thoroughly enjoyed Gram Chikitsalay. In Dr Prabhat Sinha, I saw the fruition of a dream that Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis once dreamt.
If only the faint romantic angle had been avoided! Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, as Prabhat Sinha’s fellow doctor with her skin darkened, strikes a cringy false note in a series that otherwise has its heart in the right place.
I am sure these villagers have not seen Panchayat. They have too much on the plate to bother with what the wedding guests at the next village are eating.
