Our Family Man Of The Season

There are two ways of judging a show’s success—in this case a web series in pandemic times. How many people have watched it and how many feathers has it ruffled? Family Man 2 ticks both boxes. With Manoj Bajpayee and Samantha Akkineni in the lead and created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., the second season of this espionage thriller series has been binge-watched, almost. Fans want to know when season 3 will be out. They can’t wait—the second season took a while coming. Meanwhile, Tamil fringe groups are upset with the show. They want Amazon Prime Video to stop streaming it, saying it misrepresents Tamils and distorts their liberation struggle in Sri Lanka. Lachmi Deb Roy speaks with man of the season Shrikant Tiwari, aka Bajpayee, to know more about his roaring success, and more…

What An Accomplishment! Family Man 2 has just released and we are enjoying the massive applause the series is getting. The entire team is happy… sharing the happiness, generously complimenting each other.

On Shrikant Tiwari: Season 2 opens a new chapter in Shrikant Tiwari’s life; he gives a lot of importance to his family. His life is on motion, but he remains rooted as a family person. His life moves to a different zone and to a conflict area.

In season 1, we introduced the character. So Shrikant Tiwari was in his element. His relationship with his children, wife and colleagues was established. He is carrying too much mental baggage in the second season. The family is slipping away. He has joined the task force and was given one of the toughest assignments. Season 2 has taken quite a toll, physically and mentally. But I am happy that people have loved my work and praising season 2.

Your Family’s Response: If my work gets a good response from the audience they feel proud because they know how much I love what I do. At the end of the day all of us in the family want to see each other happy. Family Man 2 has become a cult. My daughter is a big fan of all the actors in the series, but not me. It will take some time for her to understand the kind of movies I have done. She loves Shreya Dhanwanth and Sharib Hashmi. In this context I must say, the series has several Tamil actors, such as Samantha Akkineni, whose dedication and sincerity cast a spell. The challenges Samantha has taken up are brilliant.

Pandemic The Teacher: Everything from name, fame, glory, assets, ownership, attachment…all of it is unnecessary because eventually nothing comes handy when it is a matter of life and death. Materialistic things don’t really matter. What actually helps is your relationship with human beings, and your family.

Difficult time: It’s a difficult time indeed for the film industry, not just for the actors, but for all the people associated with it. I am praying that this difficult phase goes away and things calm down and we can shoot freely without fear. Shootings should resume because the more it is delayed, the more we are in trouble. I hope this coronavirus phase ends quickly and each of us return to the sets and start earning money.

OTT The Saviour: Imagine yourself without OTT in this pandemic time. Gives me shivers. There would have been absolutely no way we could have survived. With theatres closed, at least OTT is giving us work to sail through these trying times. A saviour indeed in a pandemic.