X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

Panchlait

Set in either the 1950s or 1960s, Panchlait tells the story of a small village in North India that still has no electricity and its people live in darkness, engrossed in its own little sorrows and joys. Godhan, who belongs to the Mahato Tola of the village, is outcast from the village after he refuses to pay any part of his inheritance to the village and is falsely accused by Munri's mother for singing inappropriate Hindi songs for Munri. However, the day that the tola decides to celebrate by bringing in their own panchlight, the sarpanch realises that no one from the tola apart from Godhan knows how to light the petromax. Keeping aside his ego, the Sarpanch annuls Godhan's punishment and sends a word for him, who finally becomes a part of the tola and also helps the village in being lit up, becoming the hero in everyone's eyes. Panchlight (pronounced as "panchlait") written by Phanishwar Nath 'Renu' also known as Petromax is a kerosene lamp which uses paraffin in it and then a hand pump is used to pressurize it, in order to light it up. Panchlight plays an integral part for the people of the village who have recently acquired it from a fair. The innocence and simple-mindedness of the villagers could be observed through the superstitions which surround the lamp and through the depiction of their struggles and actions when they are subjected to modern technology.

Loading. Please wait...

Content not available in your region? ExpressVPN can help you stay connected wherever you are. Get 4 extra months FREE with TV Guide's exclusive offer.

Cast & Crew See All

Amitosh Nagpal
Yashpal Sharma
Brijendra Kala
Chhadidaar Aganu Mahto

Awards

  • 2018 - Best Feature - Indian Competition - nominated
  • 2018 - Indian Panorama - - nominated

You May Also Like See All

Casablanca
Fanny and Alexander
Three Colors: Red
The Godfather

Popular Movies See all movies

The Ten Commandments

3 hr 40 mins
The Egyptian Prince, Moses, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people.
1956 Action & Adventure, Drama, Family, Documentary

Crucify

1 hr 19 mins
A neon noir thriller that descends into a maze of nightmares as two teens trapped in a haunted crime scene are forced to confront their demons.
2020 Fantasy, Horror, Suspense, Drama

Bastard Out of Carolina

1 hr 38 mins
Difficult tale of a poor, struggling South Carolina mother and daughter who each face painful choices with resolve and pride. Tired Anney and her daughter Bone grow both closer and farther apart as Anney sees Glen as her last chance despite his mistreatment of Bone.

Hamnet

2 hr 5 mins
From Academy Award® winning writer/director Chloé Zhao, HAMNET tells the powerful love story that inspired the creation of Shakespeare’s timeless masterpiece, Hamlet.
84   Metascore
2025 Documentary, Drama

Dhurandhar

3 hr 34 mins
Humza moves through the shadows of Karachi with the cold detachment of a man already dead. He targets the empire of Rehman Dakait; a titan of the underworld whose reach dictates the city's pulse. To climb this ladder, Humza performs acts of calculated brutality that buy him a seat at the table. He serves two masters while feeding intelligence to the authorities through a secret conduit. When a political mentor turns on Rehman, the veteran gangster finds himself hunted by the very state apparatus that birthed him. Humza pivots toward his defining vice of reckless over-extension to protect his target. This survival instinct secures his position but creates a vacuum that invites total national ruin.
2025 Action & Adventure, Suspense, Drama

The Passion of the Christ

2 hr 7 mins
A depiction of the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem. The story opens in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, the controversial Jesus - who has performed 'miracles' and has publicly announced that he is 'the Son of God' - is arrested and taken back within the city walls of Jerusalem. There, the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy; subsequently, his trial results with the leaders condemning him to his death. Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate, the prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, for his sentencing. Pilate listens to the accusations leveled at Jesus by the Pharisees. Realizing that his own decision will cause him to become embroiled in a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in deciding the matter of how to persecute Jesus. However, Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who, in turn, gives the crowd a choice between which prisoner they would rather to see set free - Jesus, or Barabbas. The crowd chooses to have Barabbas set free. Thus, Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and is brutally flagellated. Bloody and unrecognizable, he is brought back before Pilate who, once again, presents him to the thirsty crowd - assuming they will see that Jesus has been punished enough. The crowd, however, is not satisfied. Thus, Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes. Whipped and weakened, Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem, all the way up to Golgotha. There, more corporal cruelty takes place as Jesus is nailed to the cross-suffering, he hangs there, left to die. Initially, in his dazed suffering, Jesus is alarmed that he has been abandoned by God his father. He then beseeches God. At the moment of his death, nature itself over-turns.