IIFA Digital Awards 2025: Jitendra Kumar wins Best Performance in a Leading Role (Male/Series), reveals how he kept Panchayat real

During IIFA 2025 awards ceremony, Panchayat season 3 emerged as a big winner at IIFA 2025 for it picked four crucial awards. Besides winning Best Series award, it also bagged Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Series), Best Direction, and Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Series).

The real reason for the immense popularity of web series Panchayat lies no just in the realistic portrayal of rural India, but also the relatable characters it has offered, and the sheer perfection with which it has kept the viewers hooked. Offering an interesting blend of humor and heart, the popular web series is set against the backdrop of a small village and revolves around Abhishek, who is elected as a Panchayat secretary and faces numerous issues in navigating the problems of rural life. Besides a compelling plot, the series has also been lauded for Jitendra Kumar’s impeccable performance as Abhishek.

The third instalment of Panchayat was premiered on Amazon Prime on May 28, 2024. Such was its impact that the series recorded over 12 million streams. That’s not all, the series also emerged as a big winner at IIFA 2025 where it picked three awards. Besides winning Best series award, it also bagged Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Series), Best Direction, and Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Series).

During a quick chat ahead of the IIFA awards ceremony, Jitendra if the pressure has mounted on him with the popularity of his character Abhishek in Panchayat. “My journey from working on TVF videos to focusing on Panchayat has been incredible. I have learned several lessons too - in terms of gauging viewers’ preferences and choices and the various elements one needs to look into to ensure the series is enjoyed by the viewers. So I wouldn’t call this as a pressure. I agree viewers’ expectations have been high, but I wouldn’t term it as pressure. Instead, this motivates me to feel more responsible because the number of viewers who feel connected to the show continues to witness a surge. Honestly speaking, this encourages me to perform better. I remember, earlier when we weren’t aware of the rustic life, we had to invest a lot of time and efforts in staying genuine to its portrayal. However, now, we are able to do the research as we shoot, and in the process we realise that several other elements can be added to make the portrayal more realistic.”

See the full winners list

Film Category

Best Film: Amar Singh Chamkila

Performance in a Leading Role, Female (Film): Kriti Sanon for Do Patti

Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Film): Vikrant Massey for Sector 36

Best Direction (Film): Imtiaz Ali for Amar Singh Chamkila

Performance in a Supporting Role, Female (Film): Anupriya Goenka for Berlin

Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Film): Deepak Dobriyal for Sector 36

Best Story Original (Film): Kanika Dhillon for Do Patti

Series Category

Best Series: Panchayat Season 3

Performance in a Leading Role, Female (Series): Shreya Chaudhry for Bandish Bandits Season 2

Performance in a Leading Role, Male (Series): Jitendra Kumar for Panchayat Season 3

Direction (Series): Deepak Kumar Mishra for Panchayat Season 3

Performance in a Supporting Role, Female (Series): Sanjeeda Shaikh for Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar

Performance in a Supporting Role, Male (Series): Faisal Malik for Panchayat Season 3

Miscellaneous
Best Story Original (Series): Kota Factory Season 3

Best Reality or Best Non-scripted series: Fabulous Lives Vs. Bollywood Wives

Best Docuseries/Docu Film: Yo Yo Honey Singh: Famous

Best Title Track: Anurag Saikia for Ishq Hai from Mismatched Season 3