In a candid and heartfelt moment during a recent interview with the Panchayat team, veteran actor Neena Gupta shared a striking observation about fame and public memory in India.
She told NDTV, "Before Panchayat, in small towns and villages, people only recognised me for 'Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai'. After Panchayat, the whole of India knows me because of the show. For them, it's just 'Choli Ke Peeche' and Panchayat as if I've done nothing else in my life."
The remark was made half in jest, but echoed a deeper truth about how media is consumed in India's heartland.
Gupta, who has decades of acclaimed work in theatre, art-house cinema, and mainstream film, reflected on how the mass audience tends to remember only what is easily accessible either through free television or viral pop culture moments.
Prime Video's Panchayat, a sleeper hit series set in a fictional town of Phulera in Uttar Pradesh, has catapulted Gupta into an entirely new kind of stardom. As Manju Devi, the feisty village pradhan, she has become a household name not only in cities, but also in the very heart of India that she once struggled to reach.
"They don't subscribe. They watch whatever's on free TV. So even after doing so much [work], they only remember that song and now Panchayat," she said, with a smile.
But the actor isn't bitter. In fact, she's grateful.
"At least now they know me for something like Panchayat," Gupta said.
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