Coming June 4th, The Family Man’s new season will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video, and naturally, we’re all excited. Created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the series will see the return of Srikant Tiwari (played by Manoj Bajpayee) as he takes on a new opponent, Raji (Samantha Akkineni). We’ve been waiting for the second season to drop for a while now, and now that we’re so close to the premiere date, this is as good a time as any to recall why The Family Man is clearly the best espionage series in India.
Here are our arguments to support that claim.
#1 Spies are People too!
Unlike many Indian spy shows or movies, where the leads are terribly exaggerated to portray larger-than-life action heroes, The Family Man keeps its lead grounded in reality. Just because you’re a covert agent, does not mean you don’t have ‘common man’ problems like that of money, family, traffic, etc. The man keeps running from pillar to post to secure a home loan. Srikant Tiwari is exactly how we would imagine a real spy to be – dealing with problems of national as well as personal interest.
#2 Not Everything is Black and White
The Family Man addresses real subjects and topics, just like how things are in the real world. Not everything is shown as black or white. Even the so-called ‘bad guys’ have their own reasons which are rooted in real-life experiences, which make them do what they do. There are clear grey areas on both sides and the show doesn’t shy away from addressing them.
#3 Good vs Evil, But No Guarantees
If you’ve watched the first season of the show, you know exactly what we’re talking about. The climax proved that even though there are good guys and bad guys, being on the right side of the narrative doesn’t guarantee you a thing. Real agents often deal with mission failures, and The Family Man is not scared to show that.
#4 Writers Paid Attention to ALL Characters
Sometimes the trope with espionage shows or movies is that they spend way too much time jazzing up the lead while paying hardly any attention to secondary characters. This often leads to one-dimensional stereotypes that ruin the experience for everyone. The Family Man’s writers, however, did not fall into that trap. Instead, they worked on developing the secondary characters really well. JK, Moosa, Saloni - all of them have well-written arcs and are strong characters, irrespective of their screen time.
#5 Terrific Pacing
There is not one slow or rushed moment in The Family Man. The pacing of the show is one of its best features. We accompany Srikant on his mission across the length and breadth of India in the story, and yet, at no point does it feel like a rush job. Not many shows manage to have such tight pacing.
The new season of The Family Man has tough shoes to fill but we’re quite confident that it’s going to blow our minds. Why does 4th June seem so far away?!
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