Amol Parashar, Akash Makhija and Anandeshwar Dwivedi in Gram Chikitsalay. Photo: Trailer Video Grab
When you have a successful series in Panchayat (even if seasons 2 and 3 were acutely disappointing), the temptation to reprise it pretentiously in a different garb is, I guess, too much to resist for producer and co-writer Arunabh Kumar of TVF. Naturally, instead of an idealistic engineer who becomes the secretary of a village panchayat, to serve the people, we get a medical graduate, son of a doctor who owns a city hospital, wanting to serve a backward village.
The doctor, Prabhat Sinha (Amol Parashar), thus lands in the village’s Primary Health Center (PHC) and finds that he is barely welcome. The PHC is decrepit, its equipment rusted and damaged, the staff apathetic, and not above stealing the allowed drugs to make money.
Prabhat has an uphill task right from the PHC premises itself, which is surrounded on all four sides by cultivation by a kinky old farmer (Akhileshwar Prasad Sinha). The staff comprise the seemingly docile but shrewd Phutani (Anandeshwar Dwivedi), the assertive Gobind (Akash Makhija) and the innocent nurse, Indu (Garima Vikrant Singh). Phutani and Gobind even bring in a sweeper, Dhelu (Kartikey Raj). Indu has a son (Santoo Kumar), who is a compulsive liar.
To make things worse, Prabhat does not get any work even when he sets things right in the PHC, as everyone prefers to go to Chetak Kumar (Vinay Pathak), a quack who dispenses strange medicines, gives random injections and diagnoses ailments through absurd means but has a roaring practice! Chetak’s advice to Prabhat is that he should be more compassionate and treat the villagers like his own.
To make things worse, Indu’s son steals vaccines that Prabhat is supposed to deliver to the local vaccination camp, and two rival politicians try to place the idealistic doctor in awkward situations.
The main flaw in this saga is the tepid, oh-so-dragging and flippant script that invokes a lot of tedium and gives an additional wannabe-Panchayat feel, especially with the nearby village’s medico, Dr. Gargi (Akansha Ranjan Kapur in de-glam mode) coming up with a hint of romance towards the end of the season—I am sure there will be more.
Some of the characters are interesting, like Indu, Indu’s son, Phutani and the kinky old farmer, but the angle of Indu’s husband (Mohit Takalkar) just drags the pace and creates needless melodrama that is not just inconclusive but alien to the theme and intended message.
The final nail in the ‘coffin’ of this pointless saga is the quack making Prabhat come off second best to him as a human being. However unwittingly, the series suggests that a doctor who feels for his patients rates higher even if he has no degree and can kill people due to mistreatment, as shown right in the first episode!
Amol Parashar is not convincing at all as the idealistic medico. His expressions and body language are all wrong and he is a clear case of miscasting. Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Karikey Raj and Akash Makhija are good. Vinay Pathak barely gets scope. But the show is stolen by Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Akhileshwar Prasad Sinha, Garima Vikrant Singh and Santoo Kumar in their respective roles.
But since when did characters and performances alone make for a good viewing experience? This one just about passes a lenient muster, mainly because it is only five episodes long.
Rating: **
Amazon Prime Video presents The Viral Fever (TVF)’s Gram Chikitsalay Produced by: Arunabh Kumar Directed by: Rahul Pandey Written by: Arunabh Kumar, Deepak Kumar Mishra, Shreya Srivastava & Vaibhav Suman Music: Nilotpal Bora Starring: Starring: Amol Parashar, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Akash Makhija, Garima Vikrant Singh, Vinay Pathak, Akansha Ranjan Kapoor, Santoo Kumar, Akhileshwar Prasad Sinha, Kartikey Raj, Shakti Kumar & others
