'Same zone': Jitendra Kumar on 'Panchayat's comparisons to SRK's 'Swades'
The trailer for the third season of the acclaimed TV series Panchayat, featuring Jitendra Kumar, Neena Gupta, and Raghubir Yadav, was unveiled earlier this month. While promoting the series recently, Kumar addressed comparisons between his character in Panchayat and Shah Rukh Khan's role in the 2004 film Swades. Speaking to Pinkvilla, he acknowledged similarities between the two characters during the initial writing and story development phase of Panchayat.
Kumar embraced similarities between 'Panchayat' and 'Swades' characters
In Panchayat, Kumar plays an engineering graduate Abhishek Tripathi who accepts a low-paying job as a secretary of a gram panchayat in a remote village, reminiscent of Khan's character in Swades. "When we were initially writing and listening to the story, we doubted that there were some similarities between the two characters," he admitted. "We thought that people might highlight this. But we used it as an inspiration in the show."
Kumar expressed excitement over similarities to SRK's role
Kumar added, "In Season 1, the friend (Abhishek's friend) also refers to this, but we added those elements. But it never appeared as an obstacle. We used it well," he elaborated. "In fact, I love Swades, so I was really excited to do something in the same zone." To recall, in Swades, Khan's character Mohan Bhargav, employed at NASA, comes back to his village to work toward its development. The film is streaming on Netflix.
Know more about 'Panchayat'
Panchayat, which debuted in April 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, has been widely praised for its depiction of village life, rustic charm, and relatable humor. The second season was awarded the Best Web Series (OTT) at the 54th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), a newly introduced category that Panchayat 2 was the first to win. Season 3, directed by Deepak Kumar Mishra and written by Chandan Kumar, is set to premiere on May 28 on Amazon Prime Video.
