Chandan Kumar: Makers approach me asking — kuch Panchayat jaisa hai kya?’

Panchayat writer Chandan Kumar does not believe in taking up commissioned work. Instead, he likes to write about the world where he comes from or has observed closely.

“Now that both the seasons are a huge success, many makers come to me with an approach kuch accha hai kya? Few want something similar to Panchayat or have a preconceived idea and want me to develop it further. But I believe in developing a project that I feel for and that’s what I would continue to do in future as well,” says the writer.

Kumar is in no hurry and besides the new season he is also working on a film story. “For me writing is a weighty job if one takes it seriously. Once you are successful in documenting everything on paper then 50% of your job is done! There are many talented people who are into writing, direction and even acting but for me currently the focus is only writing. Of course, I do get involved with the shooting process but its limited.”

Hailing from Siyarampur village near Patna, Kumar did his engineering from Dehradun in 2011. “I got a campus placement and worked in tech sector for two years in Bhubaneshwar. I had inclination towards creative writing but didn’t knew how to start. I started contributing satires for a website Faking News. Soon, I joined them and shifted to Mumbai. Thereafter, I joined TVF and got exposed to the world of audio-visual.”

He made Tech Conversations with Dad, Fashion ka Bhoot, A Day with RD Sharma and wrote two episodes of Humorously Yours-2. With a desire to get into long format he developed Panchayat.

“I am from Bihar and Deepak (Mishra, director) is from UP (Varanasi-Lucknow) so we decided to set the story in Purvanchal (Ballia). Working on YouTube gave me the confidence that if your story, script, scenes and dialogues are good then it will surely take-off. The show landed silently but with word of mouth made it a hit.”

Kumar says the next season is surely happening but it will take time. “The broader story has been cracked now we are in detailing stage of episode writing. Let’s see how soon it can happen.”

From a light hearted comedy show the second season concluded on a serious note. “We wanted to explore all emotions be it humour, love or grief as life is like that. Within seconds life can turn upside down! Also, these ups and downs make the audience easily connect with the characters,” says the writer on the parting note.