The Family Man review.. Family or Country, which is more important?

Now that the lockdown\’s extended, here\’s another series review for you..

Meet Shrikant Tiwari, a typical middle class man and intelligence officer, who was once upon a time brilliant student, was bit by the patriotic bug, and joined the TASC, a fictitious branch of the NIA. The series more or less, moves around his efforts to maintain a balance between his personal and professional life.


He battles with the hassels of any other ordinary man like dropping and picking up kids from school and attending to their tantrums, scrambling for home loan, to keeping his wife happy, and succumbing to their emotional black mailing. On the professional front however, he\’s one efficient senior analyst who\’s by now proficient at achieving and cracking difficult tasks by playing mind games.

Manoj Bajpai who took off after playing Bhiku Mhatre in Satya, has since never looked back. No wonder he has been praised as a methodical actor and someone who carved a niche for himself in the era of typical movies. Online series is a first for him, and he excels in this one, portraying the hapless husband, father, patriotic officer  and the emotions that come along. Priyamani, who has extensively worked in South Indian Cinema and is a national award recipient like Bajpai, does well as Shrikant\’s wife. Sharib Hashmi, as Shrikant\’s colleague cum friend JK Talpade, has some nasty and unexpected dialogues to deliver! Neeraj Madhav as Moosa Rehman and the most unpredictable character of the season, manages well to change his colours to suit the situation and himself. Mehak Thakur as Shrikant\’s daughter, is spot on as the naughty and haughty teenage spoilt brat. Vedant Sinha is Atharv, Shri\’s aggressive and manipulative son. Gul Panag as Shrikant\’s ex girlfriend and current superior for a particular assignment, leaves a mark in the limited number of episodes that she features in! Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the makers of Go Goa Gone, Shor in the City and Stree, manage exceedingly well in weaving a captivating and thrilling storyline as the creators and directors of this project. Sumit Arora has put to paper some killer dialogues, like \”Unhe sirf ek baar jitna hota hain, hume har baar!\”

Taunts and dark, satirical humour is evident throughout. If you are the analytical kind and keep a watchful eye, you can predict some of the sequences, while some manage to astound you!! There is a fair amount of violence and cuss words, and hence is not  recommended for the light hearted.
Sympathizing with the terrorist families,  demonizing of the army/ intelligence agencies/ police and anti establishment views seem unwarranted and exaggerated.
Inspired from real news stories, this series will keep you hooked, nevertheless!!
The first seasoned premiered on Amazon prime in September 2019 and the second season might be out soon.