Manoj Bajpayee returned as Srikant Tiwari, an undercover intelligence officer, in the much-awaited The Family Man (Season 2) on 4 June 2021. If you are still unfamiliar with the series, this is an Indian action thriller streaming on Amazon Prime Video and is written and produced by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. The riveting screenplay and quick-witted dialogues were compiled by Sumit Arora and Suman Kumar. The series exposes the national security dangers faced by India because of her rough and complex geopolitical terrain. Security is made more challenging with disparate attitudes, language, lifestyles, tensions, cuisine, economy, bureaucracy, foreign threats, and fatalistic humor. How the seemingly ordinary hero Manoj Bajpayee navigates danger with an extraordinary sixth sense makes The Family Man special!
Sri, as his family and friends call him, a middle-aged man with a small-town air (born in Belwa village) is sharp as a whip. He gets under one’s skin with his sensitive, emotive face, deep smoldering eyes, and sinewy body language. He is the arch-nemesis of terrorists but under his tough-guy persona, he is only a family man. His interactions with his kids, especially his provocative precocious little boy Atharva (Vedant Sinha), are authentic. Sohaila Kapur, the School Principal is constantly summoning Srikant for meetings. His attempts to understand what his wife, the conflicted psychology professor, Suchi (Priyamani) is thinking, expose his vulnerability. He is worried like any man in his shoes that his wife is having an affair with her co-worker Arvind (Sharad Kelkar). Despite all this, the family man that he is, keeps reassuring the family that better days are ahead of them to compensate for his low-paying job. They don’t give him the time of the day because they are not privy to the workings of his day job. At the end of season 2, when he is being celebrated by PM Basu (Seema Biswas), the only favor he can think of is asking for a “no interest” home loan. Which is, of course, denied.
When I think of men on the silver screen, there’s nothing more attractive than their ability to engage, unless it’s also coupled with dazzling looks. Can he look smart in an old T-shirt, shirt sleeves, and can he clean up in a suit and tie? And Bajpayee does all that as Srikant Tiwari. One can’t deny that guys fighting crime with beautiful eyes, high cheekbones, and a dazzling smile are easy on the eyes. The name of Benedict Cumberbatch comes to mind as the star of the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes. I cannot look away from the glittering eyes of Dame Christie’s Hercule Poirot, played superbly by David Suchet. Although the performances in the Family Man are not as sophisticated as BBC and don’t display exotic locales as the Bond movies, the raw appeal with Indian accents, and absurd humor feels closer to home (Muthu ko hindi aati hai).
The first episode, of the second season, exposes Sri’s discomfort with his IT job. His manager is an insufferable mealy-mouthed man, who incessantly reprimands Srikant for not performing. In a melodramatic showdown with the manager Sri quits and returns back to Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell. This time to investigate another potential terrorist attack in the southern tip of India by the Tamil rebels in Chennai. He comes face to face with a Srilankan guerilla fighter pilot Rajalakshmi Chandran (Samatha Akkineni). Her dark, utterly fearless character development and backstory is intense, sad, and unsettling. Also disturbing but ominous are the shenanigans of Dhriti Tiwari, daughter of Srikant Tiwari, with a young boy she met online. A possible romantic spark may develop between Devadarshini, as Umayal, Chennai Police, and Srikant’s apparently indestructible colleagues Jayavant Kasinath Talpade or “JK”. The inscrutable, paranoid but surreptitiously reachable old intelligence officer Bhaskaran Palanivel comes to Srikant’s rescue when he is unable to unravel the cryptic clues.
Season 1 was the most-viewed web series on Amazon Prime Video and won five critic awards. I am sure if the macabre violence can be overlooked as necessary for the sake of drama. Samantha Akkineni, is masterful in her first digital debut. She outshines the others hands down!! This season ends with Sri asking his wife what is actually bothering her… which will be uncovered in Season 3.
Monita Soni grew up in Mumbai, India, and works as a pathologist in Alabama. She is well known for her creative nonfiction and poetry pieces inspired by family, faith, food, home, and art. She has written two books: My Light Reflections and Flow through my Heart. She is a regular contributor to NPR’s Sundial Writers Corner.