'The Family Man' Season 3 review: Weakest installment of the series
At a particular juncture towards the fag end, two antagonists who are designed to be ruthless, are seen having a casual parting conversation. While you expect them to give a typically subtle farewell, they end up in a hug despite never having had an emotional connection of any extent till that point.
In another episode, two important characters are shown to be romantically involved but the whole sub-plot stares you in the face, like some of the pretentious spy thrillers that we tend to scoff at. These were the kind of template screenplay bits that The Family Man steered clear of, in the previous two seasons. However, that is not the trend in Season 3.
Srikanth Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) is back in action and this time, the mission is in North-East India, Nagaland to be precise. He is assigned to accompany his TASK boss Gautam Kulkarni (Dalip Tahil) to an important meeting in Kohima where the rebel leaders of the state are planning to meet for signing a peace treaty.
The whole meeting is a significant part of what Prime Minister Proneeta Basu (Seema Biswas) hopes to be a peace-making mission in the North-East India. The meeting is being headed by Nagaland's kingmaker David Khuzou (Sunil Thapa) but his own grandson Stephen Khuzou (Paalin Kabak) is against the whole idea.
Meanwhile, professional assassin and feared druglord Rukmangadha Sinha alias Rukma (Jaideep Ahlawat) is assigned a critical mission by a mysterious woman Meera Eston (Nimrat Kaur), funded by a corporate tycoon Dwaraknath (Jugal Hansraj). A major escalation leads to Tiwari becoming a major suspect, making him the most wanted man in India and this forces him to go on the run to uncover the truth.
The major crux of The Family Man Season 3 is about how Tiwari manages to drag himself and his family out of the high-profile conspiracy in which he has been named a suspect. The season has also talks about the intricacies of Nagaland politics and has subtle undertones about India's international defence policies. Will Tiwari save the day once more with the stakes at the highest?
Like in the previous two editions, Season 3 also boasts of powerful performances from the lead cast but for a change, it isn't Manoj Bajpayee who takes the cake. Jaideep Ahlawat oozes menace as the cold-blooded antagonist while Nimrat Kaur also puts up a uber-cool performance as the woman with mystery.
Bajpayee as Tiwari is a cakewalk act for the veteran but in this season, his arc looks underwhelming in comparison to that of the antagonist. In fact, for a major part of the series, you feel like Tiwari has gone missing, literally and figuratively. The technical side is top-notch and there is an international feel to the web series, which is what we have come to expect of The Family Man by now.
However, where Raj and DK falter is in the thrills. The first two seasons boasted of tighter screenplays with near-flawless sub-plots and conflicts that had thrills by the minute. In Season 3, they have tried to dabble a bit more with the emotional side of things, but that ends up causing more harm than good to the eventual product.
With just seven episodes, Season 3 is the shortest installment of The Family Man but it still feels longer than the first two seasons. Only towards the final two episodes do you feel a sense of urgency to proceedings. The stakes are its highest for Tiwari in Season 3 but unfortunately, Bajpayee's portions lack the usual punch that you associate with the iconic character.
Some of the other prominent characters like Zoya Ali (Shreya Dhanwanthary), Suchitra Tiwari (Priyamani), Saloni Bhatt (Gul Panag) and Major Sameer (Darshan Kumar) have fleeting appearances across episodes. The one good part in Season 3 is that Tiwari's family angle doesn't stretch.
On the whole, The Family Man Season 3 is an average watch at best. It certainly doesn't live upto the immense buzz created by the previous installments and is clearly the weakest season of the series. It still does have its moments, with some interesting sequences and a hilarious crossover that is an absolute riot. However, Season 3 falls well short of the bar set by its predecessors.
Series: The Family Man
Creator: Raj and DK
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Jaideep Ahlawat, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Seema Biswas, Nimrat Kaur, Gul Panag, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Dalip Tahil
Rating: 3/5
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