Written by Vaibhav-Shreya, the motivations of Prabhat are more vanilla that heartfelt in Gram Chikitsalay. Boasting of being a gold medallist from a top medical college, you see Prabhat opting for a more complex life that is outside his comfort zone despite his father owning a private hospital of their own. And so, the only conflict that the drama is built around is on how Prabhat adapts to his new home and potentially wins the trust of the people of the village. The early obstacles involve the lazy compounder Phutani, an over zealous ward boy Gobind, a hard-working nurse Indu, and a grumpy farmer who has to make way (literally and figuratively) for Prabhat. Another obstacle does arrive in the form of a local quack (Vinay Pathak) who is essentially has graduated as a medical practitioner from the Google University, and a darling of the masses, so much so that all locals head to him for medicines and cures despite a local elderly man dying of an injection early on in the drama. But what the writing essentially lacks is the fizz that was prevalent in Panchayat coupled with the trademark TVF magic.

The template is set, the conflicts are meant to be simple and the resolutions are meant to be heartwarming. But one thing that the writing falls short is with the predictability of the drama. In trying to create an identity of its own in the Panchayat-coded setup, the lack of novelty really pulls back the drama to an extent. It suddenly becomes all vanilla even as the general perception around Prabhat remains on how he is a city boy, and that he is only a guest for a few days in the village of Bhatkandi. The smaller conflicts like the laundering of medicines by Phutani for personal gains, or Dhelu being employed as a junior sweeper by another senior sweeper does aspire to tap into the humourous side of things but it doesn’t always land. Even the conflict involving Indu’s son being accused of being a ‘liar’ by Prabhat feels decent, but nothing that you absolutely hold you accountable with respect to the emotions of the character. There is a sense of repetition and staleness that engulfs the setup even as Prabhat looks for alternatives (almost meta if you look at the writing searching for ideas) to win the trust of his people. This, despite the brief touch of politics being a promising aftertaste to take the drama ahead.

One of the core conflicts of a potential face-off between Prabhat and Quack doesn’t necessarily take off. It is flattened further with the character arc of the latter who is shown to motivate the former to mingle with the ‘crowd’ in order to win their trust. This is contrary to the hinderance accounted by Bhushan (Durgesh Kumar) or Binod (Ashok Pathak) from Panchayat who remained true blue nemesis to the local avenger Sachivji. The part where the show does come alive though is in the fourth episode featuring Prabhat being politically affiliated with two opposing candidates. It almost felt like a meta-commentary on actors either choosing their political affiliations or ideally wishing to keep everybody happy. The inherent messaging lay in the fact that an artist must refrain from politics, something that is quite the need of the hour today and showcased in the Oscar-winning Hungarian film Mephisto (1981).

The little complaint that I had (partially) with respect to the emotional core of the drama is made up to a certain extent at the end. It does give the character of Prabhat some sort of a character arc with a conflict to cater to, with respect to one of the characters who is suffering from a mental illness. Typically, this would account for a tonal shift in the drama from a light-hearted aimless comedy to something more serious and of substance. And this is where the emotional core of Prabhat remains tested with a strong emotional streak that resonates with his righteous personality. It almost resembled an ODI match of a team struggling to score runs for the first 30 overs before a late onslaught that helps the team attain a respectable score. And that quite accurately sums up the screenplay that tried to slog its way out of its Panchayat-coded originality, only to find momentum later on and end up being watchable. That said, this must be a siren for the folks at TVF to refrain from emulating tales based on their previous success stories, and try and work on something fresh and original, something that they are capable of and have delivered in the past too. The ‘Village Cinematic Universe’ with a dash of Aspirants may not be the right way forward (simply because it would kill the creativity). That said, the timing of Gram Chikitsalay seems more like a mouth freshener before the fourth season of Panchayat drops in July. And remains to be seen on what the future of this universe is. Lots at stake in the months ahead!