The much-awaited fourth season of Panchayat, the popular web series featuring Jitendra Kumar and Neena Gupta, was released on Amazon Prime Video on June 24.

With its light-hearted representation of rural India and the genuine struggles of the characters, the show had received a vast following ever since it first came out. That being said, the recent season, and indeed its finale, has disappointed a section of fans and critics. Although Panchayat Season 4 did have its moments, several feel that the show has lost its way from its original form, substituting charm and humility with political intrigue and formulaic storytelling.

A Mixed Bag: Reception of Panchayat Season 4

Panchayat’s initial three seasons were lauded for their authentic stories, organic performances, and rooted storytelling. The series was different in India’s streaming content universe for showing life in a small village—Phulera—in a realistic and mostly comedic way. With Jitendra Kumar as Abhishek Tripathi, the unwilling but changing Panchayat Secretary, the series became one with relatability and emotional depth.

Yet Season 4 met with a more divided reception from fans and critics. Although some enjoyed the nostalgia and sentimental moments liberally scattered throughout the episodes, many more felt that the season lost some of the freshness and comedic appeal that made Panchayat such a favorite show. The all-encompassing emphasis on village polls brought an outright political vibe that seemed to overpower much of the personal and social nuance the show had done so well previously.

Slipping Ratings: Season 4 Finale Disappoints

The most obvious indication of fan dismay is in the ratings for the season finale episode. On IMDb, earlier finales for the show had excellent scores:

Season 1 Finale – “Jab Jaago Tabhi Savera”: 8.8

Season 2 Finale – “Parivaar”: 9.6

Season 3 Finale – “Hamla”: 9.0

Conversely, the Season 4 finale, “Dabdaba,” has only gotten a relatively lower 8.4 rating, which is the lowest-rated finale in the whole series. Though an 8.4 rating is still high according to most standards, it is actually a big drop for a series that had been consistently producing high-grade endings.

Social Media Reactions: A Wave of Disappointment

The audience vented their frustrations about the new season and its finale on X (formerly Twitter). One commented, “Finished watching. Disappointed to the core. Slow, even boring in some places. Missed the USP comedy. unexpected demise.” Another shared similar sentiments: “I am truly disappointed at the end. But I understand that they need to put in place for the next season.”

The general tone of fan discussion was indignation at how the finale went down, given the emotional investment audiences have made in the characters and the village over the past three seasons. One particularly scathing review likened the watching experience to “being at a wedding you didn’t even wish to attend, but you’re stuck sitting until it’s all over.”

Others accused the show of too much emphasis on “bad politics” and losing sight of its original themes of human bonding, individual development, and rural simplicity. “Panchayat season 4 was too made-up. It’s lost its genuineness,” said another user.

Sanvikaa’s Cryptic Post Adds to the Buzz

Fueling the controversy was a cryptic tweet from Panchayat actress Sanvikaa, who portrays Rinki. She tweeted, “I wish I was an insider,” speculating that something was amiss in terms of uneven treatment and potential behind-the-scenes tensions. Though she hasn’t explained her tweet, fans took it as a coded slight on the production or marketing process, further ruining the atmosphere surrounding the new season.

The Shift in Tone of the Series
Then, what was wrong with Panchayat Season 4?

The answer lies in the show’s gradual shift from a character-driven slice-of-life drama to a more plot-heavy political narrative. Earlier seasons excelled at finding magic in the mundane—showing Abhishek’s struggles with loneliness, Vikas and Prahlad’s friendship, or Manju Devi’s gradual rise as a leader. In contrast, Season 4’s preoccupation with village elections brought in a more formulaic approach, sacrificing the subtle emotional beats and low-key humor that fans had come to love.

In fact, while previous seasons provided originality and depth, the newest one appears to be trying too hard to create tension and set up a larger culmination in Season 5, instead of remaining grounded in its origins.

Road Ahead: Can Panchayat Recover?

In spite of the backlash, it isn’t all doom and gloom for the series. The characters are still lovable, the performances are still top-notch—especially from Jitendra Kumar, Raghubir Yadav, and Neena Gupta—and there’s still plenty of space to course-correct in Season 5. If the makers go back to the show’s early strength—warmth, wit, and realism—Panchayat can very well get its lost charm back.

Meanwhile, the fans will be praying that the present season was a sidetrack, and not an endpoint. As one fan succinctly captured, “We didn’t expect politics. We expected Panchayat.”

Let’s hope Panchayat hears us out next season.