Bullet Point Review: The Family Man

This review is for both season 1 & 2.

Spoilers Ahead…

• ‘So, how do you balance your work and family life?’ — is the one question that every (married) woman dreads getting asked. It is this question, in Raj & DK’s excellent The Family Man, that holds a looming presence in Srikant Tiwari’s (needless to say this, a phenomenal Manoj Bajpyee) life. It’s not just that this question is posed to a man, but to an undercover intelligence agent, one whom everyone assumes to be a paper pusher at some governmental department, but in actuality is responsible for intercepting and averting terror attacks.
• The show’s strength lies in both its humour and action (a synthesis that Raj & DK have already worked on and proved, in the 2017 film, A Gentleman). The humour stems from the necessity of keeping the job a secret from everyone, and this turns many serious occurrences, instantly funny — like when Srikant has to disguise a possible terror suspect as a mangalsutra thief to hitchhike a ride to catch him.
  And the action is just top-notch! Shot in one-take, or long continuous shots with hand held cameras, that puts you right in the middle of action, the show boasts of multiple fantastically choreographed sequences, most notably the 13 minute long, one-take hospital shootout sequence from the first season. Despite the sheer number of these sequences, not once was I bored or put off by them, but in fact was awed by the artistry at displayed and simultaneously gnawed in my seat, on whether the team would make it out alive. All of this is also attributed to the talented cast. Not one actor is weak in this show. Thanks to Bollywood films, I have gotten used to comprising on the acting in a movie, where even if the acting isn’t good, we are happy that at least it was watchable. I am glad that web-series like these, aren’t even giving us that doubt.
• The show walks a fine line between romanticising (as in, entertaining) and humanising the missions. Upon my first watch, I did feel that a lot of the answers and resolutions felt a tad too straightforward — like the aforementioned resolution of a chase, or Srikant weaselling out a confidential plan out of the head of a terror organization by disguising himself as an ISI agent and promising to help him relocate to another country (Can I move to Sudan, he asks? The weather is much nicer). But later I understood that this was intentional. The heroes of the spy movies in Bollywood are undefeatable and undetectable (even when they leave a trail of destruction behind them), but The Family Man subverts that expectation, with very ordinary people entering dangerous situations, most times even without a bullet proof vest on.
• Along with hiding the successes and glory of job, Srikant also has to hide the pain. Two scenes — one after Kareem’s (Abrar Qazi) death and another after Milind’s (Sunny Hinduja) death — in particular are devastating to watch. It is a fleeting moment of the two halves of his life colliding (by the end of the second season, the two sides do collide violently). At times, the true nature of the incidents are asked to be covered up, to protect the country in the long run, and along with lying to others, Srikant has to lie to himself as well.
  This often lead to questions like, What is the purpose of this job? Does it make any difference? How do you differentiate between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? It doesn’t matter, as Muthu (Ravindra Vijay) says. It’s about your duty. And Srikanth later adds, we don’t work for the government or any ruling party, we work for the nation. A small yet stark difference between the two.
• The show doesn’t peddle any set agenda, but shows a balanced portrayal of both the heroes and the villains. It acknowledges the sentiment behind the acts, but doesn’t support the act in itself.
  The first season hits the nail on the head, of the different and differing issues straining the country, most of which you can pin down to real events that have occurred in the recent past. The second season is definitely superior, mostly because of its villains, who are more nuanced and their motivations more clearly defined. The humour and the scenes (intercutting between Srikant’s home and work) also flow better.

• I mentioned this point in my review of Pushpavalli as well, and here too, I loved the use of multiple languages and dialects. Dialogues freely flow from English to Hindi to Marathi to Kashmiri to Tamil and Urdu. This is an excellent use of the freedom OTT platforms provide, where it not only pushes the different types of stories can be told, but in different languages. The show then doesn’t be pigeon-holed into a Hindi-language or Tamil-language show, but an Indian show, addressing Indian issues.
  This doesn’t stop at the language. When set in Chennai, the show highlights the scarcity of water, the language barrier faced by the Hindi-speaking team, the tiffin centres, the fish market. (Love that Srikant though has been married to a Tamilian for 16 years, he hasn’t learned to speak a word of the language!) When in Kashmir, curfews are commonplace, soldiers are everywhere, and there are areas where Indians and the Indian army are not welcome.
• In the second season, we see the deteriorating relationship between Srikant and his wife Suchi (Priyamani) and between Suchi and their daughter Dhriti (Ashlesha Thakur). As we are privy to Srikant’s job and the life-threatening situations that it puts him in, it would be easy to dismiss Suchi and Dhriti’s feelings. But, the makers keep reminding us that both the mother and daughter are completely unaware of what their husband/father is up to. And just because Srikant is going through something much worse, it doesn’t cancel out what these two women are feeling. While Dhriti’s actions are typical of teenage angst fuelled by her parents’ quarrel, Suchi’s arc sees her taking help of a counsellor, a continuation of the topic of mental health, from the previous season.
• Now, to address the elephant in the room — Samantha Akkineni’s brownface. The actress is terrific in her role, and as I hadn’t watched any of the trailers for season two, the reveal of her true persona came as a real surprise to me. Her backstory and her quiet relationship with Sajid (played by Shahab Ali, who was seamlessly integrated into the season’s new conflict) added nuance to the storyline, as we too, along with Srikant and his team, are forced ponder on who is the victim and who is the preparator in this conflict? And as much as Samantha is brilliant in portraying Raji’s pain and a patience teetering on anger, every time she appeared on screen, I couldn’t help but picture her rolling in mud, right before her shot.
  If this was a one off incident, I could look past it, but Indian film and TV industries, particularly the South Indian ones, are notorious for casting only fair-skinned leading ladies. So, while the makers say the brown makeup is part of the character, it is a part of a larger issue, where dark skinned actress are still denied roles or are cast as supporting actors. Either they should have let Samantha act without the brown makeup, or just like how they cast an array of Tamil actors, they could have gone ahead and cast a dark-skinned actor.