Contemporary OTT narratives like Panchayat and Nirmal Pathak Ki Ghar Wapsi are revisiting the rural through the lens of an urban outsider, in an evocation of Sri Lal Shukla’s acclaimed 1968 novel Raag Darbari. By Ananya

‘Or perhaps, Pandit Dinanath Awasthi was exhausted. Tired of a large, brabbling family in a small, rented house, he was convinced that it was time to create memories in a home of his own.’ An excerpt from Shubha Sarma’s novel, The Awasthis of Aamnagri (2020).