‘Makers often ask, kuchh Panchayat jaisa hai kya?’

Panchayat writer Chandan Kumar does not believe in taking up commissioned work. He instead likes to write about the world he comes from, or has observed closely.

“Now that both seasons are a huge success, many makers come to me saying, ‘Kuchh achcha hai kya?’ A few want something similar to Panchayat, or want me to develop a preconceived idea they have. But I believe in developing a project that I feel [strongly about],” says the writer.

Kumar is in no hurry and besides the new season of the show, he is also working on a film. “For me, writing is a weighty job if one takes it seriously. If you are successful in documenting everything on paper, 50% of your job is done. There are many talented people who are into writing, direction and even acting. For me, currently, the focus is only writing. Of course I do get involved with the filming, but it’s limited.”

Hailing from the village Siyarampur near Patna (Bihar), Kumar completed his engineering from Dehradun in 2011. “I got a campus placement and worked in tech for two years in Bhubaneshwar. I had an inclination towards creative writing but didn’t know how to start. I started contributing satirical pieces for a website. Soon, I joined them and shifted to Mumbai. Thereafter, I joined TVF and got exposed to the world of audio-visual (entertainment).”

Thereafter, Kumar worked on short comic web series such as Tech Conversations with Dad, Fashion ka Bhoot, A Day with RD Sharma, besides writing two episodes of Humorously Yours 2. Panchayat came about as a result of his desire to get into longerformat entertainment.

“I am from Bihar and Deepak (Mishra, the show’s director) is from Uttar Pradesh (Varanasi-Lucknow) so we decided to set the story in Purvanchal. Working on YouTube gave me the confidence that if your story, script, scenes and dialogue are good, then it will surely take-off. The show landed silently but word of mouth made it a hit,” he says, adding that work on the third season is ongoing.

Starting out with light-hearted comedy, the show concluded on a serious note in the second season. Kumar shares, “We wanted to explore all emotions, be it humour, love or grief, since life is like that. Within seconds, it can turn upside down. Also, these ups and downs make the audience easily connect with the characters.”