The Family Man is an Indian Hindi-language spy action thriller streaming television series created by Raj & DK[1] for Amazon Prime Video and features Manoj Bajpayee as Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class man secretly working as an intelligence officer for the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), a fictitious branch of the National Investigation Agency.
[2][3] It also stars Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja and Shreya Dhanwanthary.
The series was announced in June 2018, with the filming of the first season began simultaneously in Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and was wrapped up within May 2019.
The Family Man: Season 1 was showcased at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour held in Los Angeles in July 2019,[6][7] and was eventually premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 20 September 2019.
The Family Man follows the story of Srikant Tiwari, who works as a senior officer in the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), along with his best friend and colleague JK Talpade, which is a part of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India.
Srikant and JK, along with their subordinates Zoya, Milind and Jayesh, and Force One officer Imran Pasha work on stopping Mission Zulfiqar from succeeding.
[28] "There is a lot of content out there for people to watch, so it becomes essential for us to not only make our series sincerely and sensitively but also to tell a unique story – something that concerns the common man and his uncommon life with his extra-ordinary struggle.
In an interview with The Indian Express, actor Kishore Kumar G was approached by one of the writers from Y Not Studios, Sumanth, who was writing for The Family Man, to play the role of a Commando in the series.
[38][39] Samantha plays the role of the main antagonist Raji, a rebel leader,[40] with Neeraj Madhav's character Moosa is expected for a comeback in the second season.
[citation needed] The second season focused on the Tamil Eelam struggle in Sri Lanka, led by the late LTTE leader Captain Prabhakaran.
[56] The soundtrack has music composed by Sachin–Jigar, Divya Limbasia, Mahesh Shankar, The Local Train, Jaan Nissar Lone, Aabha Hanjura, Thaikkudam Bridge and Underground Authority.
The Family Man: Season 1 was showcased at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour held in Los Angeles in February 2019.
[65] In May 2020, filmmakers Raj and Krishna stated that the second season of the series, will be released in the last quarter of 2020, as the post-production process (sound, music creating, VFX work) may take four months to complete.
[77] In late January 2021, there were reports claiming that the second season will be postponed due to the legal tussles revolving over Amazon Prime and their series Tandav and Mirzapur, for hurting religious sentiments.
[90][91] Rohan Naahar of the Hindustan Times wrote "Without ever parodying the genre, The Family Man succeeds at being a surprisingly funny spy series; equally capable of snappy one-liners as it is of slick thrills.
[93] Suresh Mathew of The Quint gave it a three-and-a-half out of five and distinguished it from Sacred Games by saying, "What makers Raj and DK bring to The Family Man is a total mastery over the craft of storytelling.
"[94] Ektaa Malik of The Indian Express gave three out of five stars, stating "The performances by Manoj Bajpayee and Sharib Hashmi are stellar as are the dialogues.
"[97] Akhil Arora of NDTV wrote "On one hand, The Family Man shows itself to be very socially and politically aware but its inelegant handling of exposition, and inability to be tonally cohesive lets it down.
"[99] Nandini Ramanth of Scroll.in reviewed "There are moments in the early episodes when it appears that Raj and DK are sending up the tradecraft genre and not taking this terrorist-hunting business too seriously.
Manoj Bajpayee's ability to suggest both states initially keeps The Family Man in a midway zone between muscular nationalist thriller and a True Lies-style spoof.
"[101] The New Indian Express's critic Kaushani Bannerjee reviewed "Despite the pace and the predictability of things, the show neither tries to be preachy about tolerance or peace nor portrays a black and white picture of patriots and terrorists.
It depicts both sides of the story in a balanced manner underscoring the fact that nobody is born a terrorist and even the hero needs to deal with mundane issues of life.
[103] Tanul Thakur of The Wire stated "The Family Man is elevated to a large extent by not just its writing and technical finesse – making the show tense and unpredictable – but also acting.
"[104] Jennifer Keishin Armstrong of BBC News reviewed that "The Family Man turns on such satisfying juxtapositions, constantly pitting Sri's disastrous personal instincts against his superhuman – though not infallible – skill in his role at the National Investigation Agency, rooting out terrorists who flourish in and around India (his family thinks he has an ordinary desk job).
"[106] Tatsam Mukherjee from First Post exclaimed high praises for the season 2 stating "The Family Man S02 is a stellar continuation of a homegrown spy franchise, one that seamlessly switches between Tamil, Hindi and English.
"[107] Sangeetha Devi Dundoo from The Hindu wrote "The new season of 'The Family Man' is fun and absorbing, led by the ever-dependable Manoj Bajpayee and a fiery Samantha Ruth Prabhu.