The success of Amazon Prime Video‘s The Family Man 2 is there for all to see. The series has stormed the digital space with its unabashed heart-on-its-sleeve storytelling. Action, thrill, drama, emotion and its main selling point – sparkling humour – The Family Man 2 brims with all of these in equal measure.
What’s more, the spy series has managed to break the second season jinx and wowed everyone with its sophomore season. And its lead, Manoj Bajpayee, has won hearts all around. The gripping spy thriller is fast-paced, intelligent and chock-full of twists and turns. That, coupled with the singularly unique performance of Manoj Bajpayee, has ensured that The Family Man 2 is a blockbuster hit.
Here we list out five things we loved about The Family Man 2; and five things we didn’t!
We loved:
1. The way that the narrative never takes sides. Be it the rebels of the banned Tamilian organisation; the Kashmiri and Islamic fundamentalists; or even the government, a much-maligned institution otherwise — The Family Man 2 simply depicts what drives each of the stakeholders to do what they do, and why. Raji, Sajid, PM Basu, Bhaskaran – it NEVER passes judgement on any of the myriad categories of people it depicts. Instead, it shows them as the product of circumstances – vicious yet capable of caring (remember the scene where Sajid tends to a burning-with-fever Raji). And it’s this that is truly COMMENDABLE in the cacophony of today’s times.
2. The way the story depicts its leads – full of flaws, vulnerabilities insecurities and humanly weaknesses. Srikant Tiwari is as regular a guy as your next-door neighbour – there’s nothing heroic or superhuman about him. He struggles to impress his distinctly unimpressed wife; fights a losing battle to keep his family safe; and earns meagerly for all the efforts he puts in. Yes, Srikant Tiwari is your regular Joe, as far removed from the typical Bollywood hero as the dry Sahara from the lush Savannah.
3. The technical aspects of the series – the brisk pace of the narrative; the superbly-structured scenes; the well-thought-out trajectory of the story; the exceptionally realistic settings of the diverse characters and scenes – Raji in the factory setting, the South Tamil Nadu village with its open support for the Sri Lankan Tamils, and several more; the exquisite sound design – the bird calls just before the villagers execute Raji’s jail-break, the schunk-shluck-shqwelp sounds as Raji chops up the body of her lecherous supervisor, and more; the brilliant cinematography – not just in the action sequences, but in the regular domestic scenes, Raji making her way home through the squalid surroundings – there are just too many to enlist.
4. The performances – Samantha Akkineni‘s Raji, Manoj Bajpayee’s Srikant Tiwari, Sharib Hashmi‘s JK, Vedant Sinha’s Atharva – outstanding performances all of them. Manoj Bajpayee’s facial expressions will remain etched in viewers’ minds for a long time to come, as will Sharib Hashmi’s adorable JK and Samantha’s terrific turn as Raji. The latter is especially scintillating – her large, eloquent eyes, her spry physicality as she tackles and brings to the ground men twice her size, her menacing silences – Samantha is simply brilliant as Raji.
5. The magnificent action set-pieces – all shot in single, cut-free takes. The shootout and jail break at the Veeranyam Police station, and the 8-minute action sequence at the airstrip in the finale episode – both action sequences are shot in single takes without any cuts – capturing brilliantly inventive shots, and showcasing exquisite choreography and superb coordination. The single-take shots entail exceptionally high levels of planning, coordination and attention to detailing, and are a treat to watch.
What we didn’t love so much:
1. The fact that Shreya Dhanwanthary’s Zoya barely has anything to do in The Family Man Season 2. She was one of the actors that made an impact in the debut season, and deserved a better character arc this season than to be reduced to a weepy, wheelchair-bound ex-spy.
2. The consistently depressive ramblings of the supposedly well-trained spies of an elite intelligence unit – for instance, Milind, Zoya, Srikant himself. Well-trained spies have a characteristic mental toughness – the first requisite of being in charge of the national security of a country as humongous and sensitive as India. But the spies in The Family Man 2 are, very curiously, emotional slaves to their circumstances. They somehow lack the very crucial personality traits of mental toughness and steely will.
3. Suchi’s (Priyamani) character arc is increasingly getting on viewers’ nerves. It’s like the b**ch in her has decided to take up permanent residence in her character. She’s forever snappy, forever sulky – and we’ve come to realise that we hate her.
4. Bhaskaran’s characterisation in The Family Man 2 left a lot to be desired. The Family Man 2’s version of the charismatic Tamil Eelam leader Prabhakaran is so lacking in dynamism and force of personality that he can’t be expected to whip up passions in a single individual, let alone an entire community of millions of people, like his real-life counterpart did.
5. There really is not much to not love in The Family Man 2. It’s an exceptionally well-made show, and try as we might, we can’t come up with another drawback in the show. So the last grouse we have with The Family Man is just this – that we’ll have to wait another year or two to watch Manoj Bajpayee aka Srikant Tiwari back in action, playing the spy we’ve come to love so much!
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