The much awaited and delayed series – The Family Man Season 2 from Raj and DK which set the OTT agog last year with its Season 1 with its superior storytelling and screenplay is here on Amazon Prime in its Second Season. Though it was shot as a web series, one always felt that The Family Man was cinema.
After its stupendous success people were clamoring for the sequel series and though delayed it did not disappoint. In the words of the lead man Manoj Bajpayee, ‘The new season is definitely bigger and better’, that about sums up what to expect from the Season 2. Season 1 dealt with Pak backed insurgency in Kashmir, what with one rogue ISI mastermind Sameer perpetrating a near annihilation of our country’s capital with a gas leak.
The same guy rears his head again, this time in collaboration with the Tamil rebels of Sri Lanka. Though this theme will look a bit dated because Sri Lanka has cleared all insurgency on its shores since 2009. Nevertheless the story is mind boggling and detailed, including the Southern brigade mouthing dialogues in chaste Tamil for authenticity which does play out very well.
All genuine South Indian actors, they are the highlight as antagonists. Seeing them perform, illustrates how overrated our Bollywood actors are, the difference is starkly visible. This series seems to be a genuine cocktail of North and South, the first of its kind.
The usual suspects of the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC) are very much alive and kicking in this franchise too and play out their parts brilliantly and sensitively. TASC, apart from JK, Milind, Srikant who are licking their wounds from Season 1, has some new guys like Muthu and others from the south who are a welcome addition. Family Man is about Manoj he as the protagonist Srikant Tiwari breezes through his role, he is shown as a good family man and an excellent agent though perplexed with his wife’s behaviour and also crossed with the shrink she is getting counseling from.
Samantha Akkineni is however the show stopper of The Family Man Season 2, as Tamil sleeper cell rebel, she is bold, unafraid and brilliant in her portrayal of Raji. She handles the latent simmering anger and unleashes it when required. It is a season to savour in one binge watch session. Each episode varies from 33 to 60 minutes with a total of 9 episodes.
The other cast from the first season including Priyamani (Suchi) and the both the kids play out their parts effectively. The characters in the series have also tried to break the usual stereotypes we associate with someone from down South, some dialogues like there are 5 states in South India and others about the food habits and calling names are all put across in perspective and very subtly.
Though unlike the Bahubali part 1 conundrum of why Katappa killed Bahubali which was answered in the Second part, the question about what happened in Lonavala between Suchi and Arvind at the end of Season 1 is only left to our imagination unanswered. The focal point of The Family Man Season 2, though it has more thrills, is that it dabbles proportionately between the personal and professional life of the protagonist and has elements where both culminate in the climax.
Need to add a final word here, there are echoes of 2013 Jhon Abraham movie Madras Cafe in this plot too which itself was inspired by the Rajiv Gandhi assassination by LTTE. Surely many of you may have already watched it, it is highly recommended so instead of binging on some five or seven season unending Hollywood series, this is closer to Indian sensibilities and is identifiable with us.
– Review by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of The Family Man Season 2:
Manoj Bajpayee as Srikant Tiwari
Priyamani as Suchitra Iyer Tiwari
Samantha Akkineni as Rajalekshmi Chandran (Raji)
Sharib Hashmi as Jayavant Kasinath Talpade
Neeraj Madhav as Moosa Rahman
Asif Basra as Counsellor
Seema Biswas as PM Basu
Dalip Tahil as Kulkarni
Pawan Chopra as Sharma
Shahab Ali as Sajid Ghani
Credits of The Family Man Season 2:
Production company D2R Films
Produced by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K.
Created by Raj & DK
Directed by Raj & DK, Suparn S Verma
Written by Raj & DK, Suman Kumar
Dialogues – Sumit Arora, Suman Kumar
Cinematography – Cameron Eric Bryson
Editor – Sumeet Kotian
Music by Sachin-Jigar
Composer – Ketan Sodha