Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2
Genre : Drama
Year : 2025
Episodes : 5
Running time : 40 minutes (per episode)
Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime
Director : Deepak Kumar Mishra
Cast : Amol Parashar, Vinay Pathak, Anandeshwar Dwivedi, Akash Makhija, Garima Singh
Kid rating : G
Remember Panchayat? Well, here is a cousin of sorts – a do-gooder doctor come to set up shop in the hinterland. Not because he needs to, but because he wants to. And if that supreme altruism doesn’t warm the cockles of your cynical heart, what does?
Dr. Prabhat Sinha comes to the remote village of Bhatkandi, Jharkhand to serve as the doctor at the neglected Primary Health Centre (PHC). When he locates the PHC, access is difficult, because it is in the middle of a field, and the tall crop is hard to wade through. On entry, he finds the PHC rundown—broken equipment, missing medicines, poorly motivated staff. The villagers flock to the local quack, Chetak Kumar (Vinay Pathak), who treats them by Googling symptoms.
Prabhat’s altruistic enthusiasm is somewhat tamped by the bureaucratic apathy & corruption, political interference, and local superstitions of the villagers. But he is not one to give up easily, and makes it his aim to slowly wean the villagers away from the quack. It will be an uphill task.
While the overarching premise is similar to Panchayat’s , Gram Chikitsalay manages to hold it’s own. Amol Parashar as Dr. Sinha does well as an earnest young man who has set out to do good. Vinay Pathak as the quack is also marvelous. Anandeshwar Dwivedi as the lazy compounder Phutani, Akash Makhija as ward boy Govind, Garima Vikrant Singh as nurse Indu, and Santu Kumar as Indu’s son Sudhir round off the rest of the cast.
The series portrays the dismal state of rural healthcare, and one lone man’s fight to bring it to this small village. This 5 episode series tells this story with heart, making us root for the hero. I enjoyed the simple story-telling, and would compare it to Panchayat as well as Laakhon Mein Ek – Season 2, although the latter lacks the comedic element of Gram Chikitsalay.
Season 1 was an interesting watch. I look forward to Season 2.
