The Family Man is one of the most successful and popular Indian web series ever. Over the last six years, the show has cultivated a loyal fan base and entrenched itself in the Indian pop culture. But it was almost never made, because one international filmmaker was not convinced that the makers, Raj and DK, could merge a spy thriller with comedy.
Ahead of the release of The Family Man season 3, the show’s co-creator Raj Nidimoru spoke to HT about the return, balancing thrills and comedy, and why season 3 travels to the North East.
On balancing thrill and comedy in The Family Man
The Family Man is a rare show on espionage that has comedy, but is not a spoof. Talking about achieving that delicate balance, Raj says, “The show is a balance of geopolitics, culture, and the in-built humour. It is a tough one. I remember when we had written The Family Man bible. This was before Amazon Prime had (come on board), and we were trying to get show made. We didn’t have a platform to come. Once it was all on and almost ready to go, one of the guys from the US, a creator there, who was given that bible to check, said, ‘This show is not going to work. Don’t do it!’”
Raj explains that the filmmaker felt one could not club a thriller with comedy. “The reason he gave was that you cannot club two genres like this. There hasn’t been a spy show or any show of this nature across the world. They are usually in the action, drama, or crime genre. There is no comedy in the genre. When there is comedy, it becomes a spoof, and there have been spoofy ones (spy shows). But we felt like this balance was important for us,” he recalls.
Raj even says that quite often, he and the editors cut scenes that may be too funny as they change the overall tone of the narrative. “We have cut down some really interesting scenes. We had to chop it off in the edit, because sometimes what they did was too funny. It didn’t make sense in the situation,” he reveals.
Why The Family Man S3 is set in the North East
The first season of The Family Man saw Srikant Tiwari, the protagonist, travel to Kashmir. The second season, partly set in Chennai, dealt with the Tamil Elam movement in Sri Lanka, while season 3 is set in the North East. Talking about the choice, Raj says, “It was a natural progression after the spotlight fell on Kashmir and then Chennai. We knew one season ahead where we were going next. These were the places that needed a light to be shone on, because we have so many stories set in every other part of the country, and these were the less-seen ones.”
The Family Man stars Manoj Bajpayee in the titular role, alongside Sharib Hashmi, Priyamani, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Gul Panag, Ashlesha Thakur, and Vedant Sinha. S3 introduces Jaideep Ahlawat as the antagonist alongside Nimrat Kaur. It premieres on Amazon Prime Video on November 21.
