Hindi web series ‘Panchayat’ is a huge success on Amazon Prime Video. So, they came with season 2 and 3. The makers officially remade this web series in Telugu as ‘Sivarapalli’ and it was directed by Bhaskar Maurya. Shanukha Prashanth wrote the story for the Telugu version. This web series consists of eight episodes and Rag Mayur, Murali Dhar Goud, Rupa Lakshmi are playing the major roles in it.
Story:
Shyam (Rag Mayur) is an Engineering graduate who applies for a government job and is posted as Sivarapalli Gram Panchayat Raj secretary. After reaching the village, he is received by sarpanch Sudhakar (Muralidhar Goud) and deputy sarpanch Mallikarjun (Uday Gurrala). Sarpanch misplaces the key to the panchayat office and they break the lock. After seeing the panchayat office, Shayam wants to leave the job and go to the USA. To settle in that village, Shyam has to get accustomed the local villagers, politics and to deal with them in a proper way. He is a government official, but the villagers do not take him seriously and make him do their personal work. As per a Government Order, a few slogans are written on the village walls that women should be educated. But some villagers object to those slogans. How Shyam explains to the villagers that women also need education and they should not be confined to homes, how he overcomes the hurdles he is facing and what happens to his CAT exam? Are part of the story. Who hoists the flag, actual arpanch Susheela (Rupa Lakshmi) or her husband Sudhakar? Big drama occurs on the Republic Day and how it ends is the crux of this web series.
Analysis:
The Hindi web series ‘Panchayat’ is a super success and now they remake it into Telugu as ‘Sivaripalli’. This is supposed to be a comedy-drama with an internal message. Director Bhaskar Maurya roped in some good actors like Rag Mayur, Muralidhar Goud and Rupa Lakshmi for the major roles, but the only problem with this web series is that the narrative is too slow.
The village, the people and every scene looks realistic and parts of the web series can really be enjoyed, but the director dragged a few scenes unnecessarily. When you watch the whole eight episodes, you feel that you are watching it for the entire day. Starting with the key which the sarpanch misplaces and the search is really tedious to watch in the first episode. There are a few like this in the first few episodes. The web series becomes interesting when the original sarpanch Sudha played by Rupa Lakshmi wants to show her real power.
There is also a message in this web series when they insist that women should be educated in the villages and that they should send their girl child to schools. How it is conveyed to the villagers has come out nicely. The villagers threaten not to vote for the present sarpanch, if she insists that the girl child should be sent to school, but the sarpanch is reluctant, sticks to the rule and is even ready to lose the sarpanch post. The last few episodes are actually very interesting. The good thing about this web series is that the cinematography showed the village in a beautiful and realistic way. Actually, cinematography blends very well with the narration of the story. Shanmukh Prashanth’s dialogues are good and the music is also carried well. Emotional quotient is also missing in the web series.
When it comes to the performance, every artist played his part well. Rag Mayur, who is already proven as an actor with his earlier work, did a fantastic job as the secretary. He is once again at his best and the highlight of the web series. In recent times, his work is being noticed from his films and this web series. Muralidhar Goud is perfect as sarpanch’s husband and he steals the show. He is almost there in every Telugu film. He played a major role in ‘Sivarapalli’ web series and did his job with flying colours. Rupa Lakshmi became popular with the film ‘Balagam’ and got a major role in this web series. She is a natural actress and carried the role throughout, especially in the final episode, her performance is on the high. Uday Gurrala and Anji Valguman also played their part well. In this web series, they got very good actors and everyone took their roles seriously and did it very well. Pavani Karanam of ‘Pushpa 2’ fame appears in the end. She leads to the second season.
Finally, ‘Sivarapalli’ is a good web series with a thought-provoking message in it. Though there are a few dragged scenes and episodes in the beginning, you need to have patience to watch the series. But the last few episodes, especially the flag hoisting scene come out well. This web series is supposed to be a comedy-drama with a message and when compared to the original Hindi web series, the Telugu director and writer focus more on their narration and writing.
Web series: Sivarapalli
Cast: Rag Mayur, Muralidhar Goud, Rupa Lakshmi, Uday Gurrala, Anji Valguman, Pavani Karanam and others
Writer: Shanmukha Prashanth
Producer: Arunabh Kumar
Director: Bhaskar Maurya
OTT platform: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 2.5/5
