Panchayat Season 2: Actor Ashok Pathak who plays Vinod in the series used to sell cotton to support his family

Jitendra Kumar-led Panchayat Season 2, which released on Amazon Prime Video, is heaping all praise from critics and fans alike. The show, created by The Viral Fever Videos, also stars Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav, Ashok Pathak, among others. 

Ashok Pathak plays Vinod in the series and is one of the characters that really stands out. The actor recently opened up about his journey and why he did not want to audition for Panchayat 2. 

Ashok has played many supporting characters in hit shows like Aarya in his acting career spanning over 11 years. He began his acting journey with the film Bittoo Boss. Speaking about why he was not interested to audition for Season 2 of Panchayat initially, he said when he called a casting call, he was 'disappointed' as he thought this would be just another blink-and-miss role. "In fact, for the last several years, I have been playing characters like a street vendor, a driver or a security guard. In such a situation, it seemed that this character Vinod is also like that," he said adding that he tried giving excuses and postponed the audition for two to three days. Since the casting team were his friends, he could not say no directly. 

He gave in and created an audition video and sent it to them while he was shooting for Sushmita Sen's show Aarya. "They liked that video and I was finalised for the role. I never refuse work. But maybe this was bound to happen. But maybe it had to happen, otherwise I would not have got that much love from people," he said.

Ashok Pathak is now enjoying all the love and attention he is receiving from the audience. He is overwhelmed with all the comments and messages on social media. But his journey has not been a bed of roses. He has had a share of ups and downs in life. Hailing from Bihar, his family migrated to Harayana for work. When he was in Class 10, he started selling cotton on a bicycle to support his family. It was in Class 12 that he got into theatre and found his passion for the art. His family's financial condition was better by then. He moved to Mumbai with just Rs 40,000 with him 11 years ago and today, with the small supporting roles he has been playing in films and shows, he has managed to buy a one-room-kitchen apartment in Mumbai.

Panchayat 2 is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.