With its clean humor, relatable situations, and powerful performances, TVF’s Panchayat on Amazon Prime Video has become a crowd favourite and taken the top spot as a family entertainer.
The stellar starcast includes powerhouse performers like Raghubir Yadav and Neena Gupta, with one of web series’ most loved stars, Jeetendra K playing the protagonist Abhishek Tripathi.
While they’re all brilliant in their roles, another actor who won over the audience for his portrayal of the earnest, innocent, lovable PA Vikas, is debutant Chandan Roy.
On papers, Vikas is Abhishek’s personal assistant. But his position appears to be that of a man-Friday, who helps with odd jobs around the village.
He is not high on the hierarchy chain, and yet, possibly has the most knowledge about the way things function in the village. His dedication to the job, his humble approach, and an ever-present bashful smile make you immediately warm up to him.
And Chandan Roy deserves complete credit for portraying Vikas so brilliantly, especially when we take into consideration the actors he was sharing screen space with.
An alumnus of IIMC, 26-year-old Chandan originally hails from Vaishali, Bihar and entered into the world of movies much against the wishes of his parents.
Due to financial constraints, his father, who is a police constable posted in Patna and his mother, who is a homemaker, were not in favour of him pursuing acting. Yet he was convinced that acting was the way for him.
He thus decided to work at a media organization and earn for himself, while pursuing acting after work. And a few years later came Panchayat.
Vikas had initially auditioned for a small role in Panchayat. But after the production and casting crew saw his audition tape, they invited him to audition for Vikas’ role.
That’s how Chandan Roy landed in the fictional town of Phulera, with some of the most talented stars from the industry.
From watching Govinda’s film after work to working with stars like Neena Gupta and Jeetendra in his first show itself, Vikas’ acting journey has definitely come a long way.
We used to rent TV and VCR and watch Shaktimaan, Captain Vyom, Chitrahaar, Rangoli etc… My friends would be playing cricket in the free time and I would go to the hall, on the sly, to watch Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda films.
Chandan, whose portrayal of Vikas was an amalgamation of many people he’d come across in his life, shared with Indian Express that Panchayat was a learning experience for him:
Panchayat’s set was like a school for me. I used to make notes like a student. I never saw Raghubir sir carrying the script. He used to come so prepared. Jeetu bhaiya (Jitendra Kumar) spoke every line with so much conviction, I was in awe. As for Neena ma’am, she used to come on the set, wear her costume, get into her character, do some magic with the scene and leave. I got so inspired by seeing them. I only thought I have to do a lot of hard work in life.
Chandan Roy has definitely displayed an impressive performance as Vikas. At no time does the character cross the line from being endearing and helpful, to annoying and overbearing.
In fact, it wouldn’t be presumptuous to say that he has earned a tentative spot in the category of actors whose work the audience looks out for. And hopefully, in time, his position as a brilliant performer will be further solidified.
All images from Amazon Prime Video, unless specified otherwise.