The Family Man 2: Ahead of release of Manoj Bajpayee's series, a look at first season, the controversies that followed

Two years ago, filmmakers Raj & DK created The Family Man on Amazon Prime Video, the spy series which saw actor Manoj Bajpayee in his digital debut. The Family Man, which became one of most popular Indian digital series in 2019, introduced viewers to Srikant Tiwari (Bajpayee), an ordinary middle-class man with a secret identity as a senior analyst in the fictional. He works as a senior analyst in the fictional Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), which is a part of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India. The 10-episode series tracks him flitting between the agent role and the family man role—protecting the country from terrorists by day and being the unassuming husband and father at night. The first season also featured Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja, and Shreya Dhanwanthary. With the second season of The Family Man on the brink of release, here is a recap of the events of Season 1, what to expect in the upcoming instalment ,and all the buzz that’s going around the show. Recap Set in Mumbai, The Family Man sees Srikant struggling to strike a balance between being a “family man” and also an underpaid government agent. In the opening segment of the series, three people find themselves on high seas off the coast of Kochi, India. It is mentioned that they are on a secret mission and have been hiding in Lakshadweep for several days. Soon, they are confronted by coast guards, which results in a shootout. Among the three is an innocent young man, Moosa Rahman (Neeraj Madhav), who begs their leader, Asif to not do anything silly.

Meanwhile, Srikant finds himself restless with his daughter on the verge of being suspended and noticing early signs of the soured marriage with his college lecturer wife Suchitra (Priyamani). Srikant catches the whiff of an Islamist terrorist conspiracy code-named “Operation Zulfiqar”, which is being orchestrated from “somewhere in Balochistan” by an ISIS terrorist and Pakistani agents and carried out by locals. Srikant helps the CIA to locate Faizan, a wanted man hiding in Balochistan and later slips into Pakistan to interrogate Faizan. They discover that the terrorists are planning to launch a nerve gas in New Delhi. And, the gas has been smuggled in Kashmir for over three years and is now being transported to Delhi. Pakistan’s PM finds out about Zulfiqar and tries to stop it, acknowledging the economic crisis that would come along. The Family Man leaves Delhi at the brink of disaster with a chemical attack imminent and the government agencies not even aware of what is in store for them. Can they avert the disaster? What to expect in the second season? The second season will see actor Srikant pitted against a new and powerful adversary, Raaji, played by South star Samantha Akkineni. Hours before the show’s premiere on Amazon Prime Video, the director duo took to Instagram and posted a note for the fans of the espionage thriller-comedy. “Every filmmaker has a tale to tell at the end of every project about its highs and lows. For us, The Family Man season two has proved to be our most challenging project yet. These are difficult times for all of us. There isn’t anyone amongst us untouched by loss and suffering. While we mourn the tragic loss of lives, we are grateful for the heroic actions and courage of the frontline workers and everyone working tirelessly to provide aid during these times,” Raj and DK wrote. Controversy  The Family Man 2 was scheduled to return earlier this year but it was postponed following the controversy around Amazon’s shows Tandav and Mirzapur. On 19 May, Rajya Sabha member and MDMK leader Vaiko wrote a letter to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on to stop the broadcast of the show. He alleged it shows Tamilians in a negative light. As per Vaiko, the show depicted “Tamilians as terrorists and ISI Agents and having link with Pakistan.” An excerpt of his letter read, “These descriptions have hurt the sentiments of Tamil people and Tamil culture and offensive against the Tamil community." In a statement last week, Raj and DK had said they respect the sentiments of Tamil people and have come up with “a sensitive, balanced, and riveting story” in the second season of the show. _Also read on Firstpost: Claims against The Family Man Season 2 of being 'anti-Tamil' are a farce; Raj & DK's show is true pan-Indian television_