'Panchayat 2' (Hindi) has become a major hit on Amazon Prime Video. Described as a warm and funny show, the rural drama has been lauded for presenting the Indian village as a "real place with real people".
In contrast, Mahesh Babu's 'Srimanthudu' and 'Maharshi' romanticized drudgery and over-simplified rural problems. They tried to show all villagers as victims and villages as places that are better than cities if agriculture is corrected. They were simplistic tales that didn't touch upon political, caste-based and other complex issues even for a while. That's why the discerning audience never like lazy stories like 'Srimanthudu' and 'Maharshi'.
In a meme doing the rounds on the Internet, we see Panchayat's character Abhishek Tripathi, the Panchayat Secretary, trying to open Mahesh Babu's eyes to the reality of the Indian village. "Villages are like this, they are not like the ones your movies show," is the message.
In reaction to the meme, Mahesh Babu's fans are attacking the fans of 'Panchayat' by emphasizing the positive message inherent in his movies.
Movie buffs enjoy escapist entertainment. Even 'Sarkaru Vaari Paata' had no real solution. It just paraded nonsense about NPAs/bad debts. Until someone makes a real film that explores the problem of bad debts in its complexity and how systemic the issue is, people are going to believe that 'SVP' is a sensible movie!
