Panchayat 3: What makes Faisal Malik’s grief-stricken Prahlad Panday the heart of this season

Panchayat season 3 may have lost the narrative, but there is one character who gently holds on to his grief: Prahlad Panday, performed by a confident Faisal Malik.


The previous season of Prime Video India’s Panchayat concluded on an unexpectedly terrible note, with the death of Prahlad Panday’s military son Rahul. Faisal Malik, who had remained a genial sidekick throughout the drama, now took on a higher significance as the father of a martyr. While the label is sometimes used as a source of pride, season 3 revealed that for Prahlad, it is mostly associated with deep-seated pain.

(Also Read: Panchayat 3 review: Jitendra Kumar’s play soars high on emotions and surprises with supporting cast.)


Different stages of sorrow
Prahlad’s first mention in season 3 comes from his friends Vikas (Chandan Roy), Manju Devi (Neena Gupta), and Pradhan (Raghubir Yadav), who discuss how Prahlad hasn’t been staying at home or eating well. They also discuss how his drinking problem has increased. We’ve already painted a very sad, powerless depiction of a man. When we observe him sleeping quietly under a tree, we can tell he’s either grieving or drinking heavily, but he’s at ease. Not because his son died as a martyr, but because he had nothing else to lose.

Prahlad does not pull his grief like he would an axe on the farm. It sits, sleeps, and drinks with him as a silent companion, reminding him that his life will never be the same again. When we saw the season 2 finale, we felt a connection. We enjoyed the show for its purity and simplicity, but it would no longer be entrenched in either. Season 3 contains echoes of that show, but sadness emerges in many ways during the eight-episode run, much as it does in life. Prahlad, like the characters in the show, changes his mood depending on the situation. But the restless energy remains constant.

Prahlad quickly recovers from his intoxicated, lethargic state. When assigned a task, he takes it on and dares to complete it without holding back. He is even willing to use violence if it is necessary to restore order. He ignores even the District Magistrate’s directives. “Apne samay se pehle koi nahi jaega (nobody leaves before their time),” he states forcefully, referring to Sachiv’s (Jeetendra Kumar) untimely transfer while also emphasizing his son’s early death.

Prahlad’s grief, however, does not merely alternate between terrifying aggression and forlorn hibernation. There is also a broad spectrum in between.

For example, he refuses to cash the ₹50 lakh government check following his son’s martyrdom. Like his anguish, he is unable to find an acceptable conduit for the money. So he continues to offer it to each and everyone in need, including the reconstruction of a road so that Pradhan has a fair chance in the forthcoming elections, financial assistance to Vikas so that he can plan his family despite his poor wage, and even the care of an elderly woman in his town whose son cannot afford it. Prahlad understands that, while the anguish is his, the money that resulted is up for grabs.

The best moment.
My favorite scene from Prahlad’s arc, or possibly the entire season, is his close contact with the elderly woman whose life he saves. Amma is determined to obtain a new pucca house for her son and his family. However, her ignorant and unskilled self can only think of one way to achieve this: manipulation. She pretends to be ill and that she has been kicked out of her son’s house so that Sachiv can nominate her for a new home under the Central Government’s housing policy. In the meantime, she insists on living in a mud outhouse, despite her son’s desires, in order to boost her chances of finding him a new home.

Prahlad brings Amma to his filthy home and invites her to take sanctuary there. He considers his worldly possessions, including a house and a ₹50 lakh cheque, insignificant as he lacks a partner to share them with. Because she still has the luxury of a family, she should not separate herself from them for the sake of material possession. Both of them cry and hold each other: the mother of a poor guy who desires a better life for her kid, and the father of a martyred soldier who cannot even imagine sharing a simple life with his son. It is the convergence of two improbable forces that might make each other realize how wealthy they are, materially or not. She then directs him to sweep his house before leaving him with her advice on dealing with sadness and life in general.

When he mentions that his house would become unclean again, she shrugs and advises that he sweep again. It’s the perfect thing to say to someone who is grieving: they must start the day on a new note, go through the everyday grind, just to repeat the process every day. That won’t take away your pain, but it will make you feel like you’re doing something about it every day. This is what Faisal Malik’s Prahlad Panday represents in Panchayat: in a program striving to find its voice and reset its stakes, he’s the one who simply picks up the broom and sweeps. One hopes that the authors will pick up their pens and follow suit next season.