By Anjali
The most awaited series of the season ‘The Family Man Season 2’, directed and produced by Raj and D.K released on June 4. The best part about both parts of this series is that they didn’t follow a typical hero and villain story notion. In this series, the main character is not heroic and the villains are not stock odious characters. And, the makers have maintained a balance between each component of the series. The shades of gray will keep you tussling to choose a side. The audience has seen a melancholic side of the stone-faced Tamil-rebel soldier Raji (Samantha Akkineni). Let’s discuss what was good and bad in The Family Man Season 2.
First, Manoj Bajpayee aka Srikant Tiwari who has been portrayed as an extraordinarily smart TASC officer. He was a focused and dedicated man. However, in the second part, he was seen doing an IT job after leaving TASC. Even after doing everything to make his family happy, he could not have a good conversation with his wife. In short, he justified the series name “The Family Man” by being one. Staying away from his previous job made him unhappy and unsatisfied with himself. Normally we see people expressing their frustration by crying or shouting. But, Srikant was a character whose silent expressions said it all. The calmness of the character was more subjugating than a frisky one. This was a story of a man working to shield national security and his family from misery even after being torn between judicious and domestic issues.
Samantha Akkineni aka Raji has been portrayed as an extremely cunning Tamil-rebel soldier. Her action scenes dictate her hardcore training and immense strength. Raji is stubborn and focused on her mission. When Srikant was trying to interrogate her, she said “Mujhe Maar Do, Kaat Do, Mere Andar Acid Bhar Do. Mai Kuch Nahi Bolungi”. In between this conversation, Srikant played his old victim card to trail out the truth from Raji. While replying to Srikant, she told a story in return. And, at the end she said “Fark Bas Itna Hai Ki Meri Kahani Sachi Hai”. These lines were enough to reflect her presence of mind where she didn’t get manipulated by Srikant’s fake story.
The third part which needs to be appreciated is not from the cast but the production team. The long takes of the series were the ultimate showstoppers. The amount of hard work done by the cinematographers of the series was reflected in the first episode only. The beginning of the series went ahead with a glimpse of Sri Lankan Tamil rebel soldiers. This was 4 minutes long shot without any cut. And, the Hollywood- like climax was even more marvelous. In the end, there is a 7-minutes long shot where camera movement is not stopped for a second. Thirdly, in the 6th episode of the series, there was an attack on the police station and to appreciate this, fantastic will be a very small word. You might feel your eyeballs popping out from your eyes. And, for this excellent cinematography, the credit goes to Cameron Eric Bryson.
Now, the last part which needs appreciation is the spontaneous humor between continuous twitchiness. It didn’t seem for a second that one element was dominating another. Every segment got its space in the series. Srikant and J. K’s chemistry doesn’t need any kind of introduction. They both sharing the frame was the second connotation of humor. Subsequently, Srikant’s son Atharv was also painted as a fun child. During the whole series, he is trying to make people laugh.
Let’s move forward to the things which could have been improved. This season was extremely impressive and not disappointing as other series’ second parts. Firstly, the continuous guidance of the character “Chellam” to Manoj Bajpayee aka Srikant. Overall, this sounds like Srikant already knew everything and didn’t hustle more over pitfalls. Every single time Srikant used to make a call and boom! the problem was solved. Whereas, in the first part Srikant himself hustled to find solutions.
Now, the next thing which could have been portrayed differently was “Sajid’s” encounter. Because in the first season Sajid was portrayed as an extremely dangerous and cunning person. And, his encounter was done like some normal goons. That abrupt end to Sajid’s story was a bit disappointing.
And, the climax whose cinematography was full of hustle. But that same abrupt end was not expected. The real expectation was to see another face-off between Srikant and Raji. They were the main rivals fighting against each other. And, during the series, they met only once. So, it was expected that Srikant and Raji would get a face-off at the end. The conclusion was open-ended.
Thus, all these were the high and lows of the series. But it is created in such a beautiful manner that the highs can overshadow the lows. Hence, making it a must-watch series. Overall, each element, character, and shots got its space in the frame and none of them dominated the other.
