For those who leave behind the comfort and familiarity of their small towns to build a life in the big city, homesickness can become a constant companion. The occasional trip back home offers some respite, but when life gets busy in the chaos of a new city, there are a few shows that can make you feel like you’re back home. Because they bring back the warmth, people and little moments that you miss, shows that you may have already watched but keep returning to.
With its second season recently released, the show once again brings the calm, charm and chaos of small-town life to the screen. Gajraj Rao and Sparsh Shrivastava-starrer Dupahiya is one such show. If you’re always on the lookout for such shows, we have a list of five web shows that capture the magic of small-town India.
During the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, one show that made strangers in a big city feel right at home was Panchayat . The show quickly gained popularity after its release in 2020 and, with four seasons now out, has become one of the biggest shows on OTT. Set in Jaipur in 1998, the series follows 12-year-old Harshal Gupta and his family as they navigate school, friendships, sibling rivalries and the everyday drama of growing up.
Set in the fictional village of Phulera, the series follows Abhishek Tripathi (Jitendra Kumar), an engineering graduate who reluctantly takes up a government job as the village panchayat secretary. What begins as a frustrating posting slowly turns into an unexpectedly warm relationship with the people of Phulera. From Pradhan Ji (Raghubir Yadav) and Manju Devi (Neena Gupta) to Prahlad (Faisal Malik) and Banrakas (Durgesh Kumar), the show’s characters bring the wit, warmth and straight-talking charm that make small-town India so familiar. You can watch it on Amazon Prime Video. As the show famously proves, Gullak isn’t really a story about a family, but about the bittersweet episodes of family life. It finds humour in everyday moments — sibling fights, parents worrying about their children and arguments over the smallest things — while also touching upon tougher issues such as financial struggles, neighbourhood gossip and the tiny disagreements that somehow become major household events. You can watch the show on Sony LIV. For anyone who grew up in the 1990s, Yeh Meri Family can feel like a trip down memory lane. Since the show is centred on Harshal, it also captures the biggest ‘crises’ of his life — from playing outside with friends and fighting with his siblings over the television remote to planning summer holidays. The show explores the clash between idealism and ground realities while also bringing plenty of humour and warmth to the story. The show doesn’t paint returning home as a pretty picture, but as a hard reality for those who face scrutiny after coming back. At the same time, Shekhar finds comfort in the familiarity of his birthplace and the people he had left behind. Ghar Waapsi captures that complicated feeling with warmth and honesty.
