Amazon Prime Video is currently streaming 'The Family Man season 2'. The Hindi-language web series has been one of the most anticipated ones in the history of Indian streaming. In this section, we are going to tell you why the series can't be given a miss.
Story
Srikanth Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) is a regular IT employee by the day. In reality, he is a dangerous undercover intelligence agent working for the NIA's special anti-terrorist cell. At a time when his wife Suchitra (Priya Mani) is not happy with him and his daughter Dhriti (Ashlesha Thakur) is in a harmful relationship, Srikanth has to rise to the occasion and nab Raji (Samantha Akkineni), who hails from an LTTE-like army.
The Sri Lankan rebel army wants to assassinate Indian Prime Minister Basu (Seema Biswas) at any cost. Pakistani agent Sameer (Darshan Kumar) and Kashmiri terrorist Sajid (Shahab Ali), too, have the same aim. And Srikanth is the only guy who can get in their way.
Performances
More than Manoj Bajpayee, the Telugu audience has awaited Samantha's performance in the series. And she makes a dashing OTT debut. Junking her on-screen innocence/naivete (as epitomized by her 'Rangasthalam' and 'Oh Baby' characters), the star actress plays the underdog-cum-determined extremist with great restraint.
The show has got consistently good performances in every respect. Bajpayee is superb, while Priya Mani and Ashlesha Thakur ace their respective roles. Even unfamiliar actors such as Sharib Hashmi, Mime Gopi, Azhagam Perumal, Abhay Verma and others are endearing. Devadarshini plays an interesting cop.
Technical aspects
Since the series is a longish one, with its 9 episodes running into more than 6.5 hours, Sachin-Jigar's background music had to elevate the crucial scenes with deftness. Like in Telugu films such as 'Goodachari' and 'Kshanam', the BGM here is smooth and lies low. The cinematography captures the vast expanses as well as indoor locations with sophistication. The visuals are highly pleasing.
One feels the editors had a tough job of making the proceedings look tight. Barring a couple of episodes, the rest of the season has been edited smartly.
Analysis
Right off the bat, 'The Family Man 2' captivates the audience with its multitude of elements. There is a boss who constantly belittles the male lead at the IT company, there is a retired RAW mentor who leads a secret life, there is a daughter who has gone rogue because of her age, there is a low-key anti-terror operation in Chennai... All these threads go into giving the viewer a thoroughgoing experience.
The Sri Lankan rebel army has instituted a government in exile, which is not to the liking of India's Prime Minister. She wants to beat China, cozy up to Sri Lanka and kill a rebel extremist at the cost of losing the support of the whole of Tamil Nadu. The subtle references to the interplay between geopolitics and national politics have been interestingly staged.
Samantha's character enters the scene in the second episode. A victim of sexual harassment at her workplace, she is a sleeper cell member with a difference. Will she be able to duck Srikanth's counter-terror operation?
The telling of the first few minutes of each of the episodes is brilliant. The episodes don't necessarily end on a cliff-hanger, though. Yet, the way the next episode takes off, one is excited to watch the whole drama unfold.
The action scenes come with shoot-out stretches as well as hand-to-hand combats. The editing is sharp and the execution of the police station sequence in the sixth episode is gripping.
On the flip side, one feels the drama slackens when Bajpayee's character is around. This is shocking all the more because he is the series' lead character. The series falls flat, at least to an extent, in terms of the NIA procedural scenes. A team goes to raid an aviation centre and the way the protocol is adhered to there, is not at all convincing. The Prime Minister's life is at stake, for God's sake!
Closing Remarks
'The Family Man 2' is one of the finest web series to come out from India. The franchise is going to be kept alive. The third season will be about how China wants to wreak havoc in India. It will most definitely be controversy-free but not fact-free. And it will hopefully be full of thrills and intrigue, more than the second season.
