Is The Family Man Season 3 a complete disappointment? We wouldn’t go that far! But it is undoubtedly the weakest season compared to its brilliant previous chapters. Adding to viewers’ woes is the streamer, Prime Video, itself.
For a significant portion of viewers, particularly those watching on mobile devices, the viewing experience for Season 3 has been dramatically undermined by a baffling combination of cinematic choices and regulatory mandates.
The complaint echoing across social media is that the latest season is plagued by excessively dark scenes, which, when compounded by the highly disruptive low-brightness tobacco warnings, turn the binge-watch into a frustrating exercise of constant screen adjustment.
The narrative tone of The Family Man 3 is arguably darker and more brooding than its predecessors, delving into complex geopolitics in the Northeast and presenting a more vulnerable Srikant Tiwari. This shift is often reflected in the cinematography, with scenes frequently shot in low light to enhance suspense, mood and intensity, a common stylistic choice in modern thrillers.
However, when this darker aesthetic meets the constraints of a standard mobile screen, the effect is often lost. What is moody intensity on a high-end OLED television becomes an unwatchable mess on smaller, less dynamic displays. Viewers are left straining their eyes to closely watch critical action or dialogue, forcing them to manually raise their phone’s brightness just to see the scene.
This issue is further exacerbated by the compliance requirement of the tobacco warning strip. In accordance with Indian regulations, a graphic anti-tobacco warning must be displayed whenever a character is seen smoking or using tobacco.
The complaint from viewers is that the display of this warning, which often appears every few seconds during smoking scenes, is accompanied by an automatic reduction in screen brightness or a dimming effect designed to make the bright warning graphic stand out more prominently.
This scenario clearly distracts users, shifting their focus away from Srikant’s high-stakes mission and character arc to a battle with their phone’s settings menu. In a country where mobile phones are the primary consumption device for streaming, the platform is failing to optimise the experience, troubling the very audience that drives its success.
Ultimately, Prime Video India finds itself caught between the creative demands of its filmmakers and strict regulatory compliance. The Family Man Season 3 deserves a viewing experience that enhances its drama, not one that constantly fights against it. Stay tuned for more updates.