The ending of Season 3 of The Family Man has left everyone with one question — will Srikant Tiwari survive? Creators Raj & DK, the men who have winningly steered this much-loved series — with, of course, the aid of Manoj Bajpayee as the Everyman super agent at the centre, and a strong ensemble cast — are well aware of the fact that they will have to come back with Season 4... stat! The duo took this and a few other question(s) of the hour pertaining to their hit Amazon Prime Video series in this t2 chat.

Does every season of The Family Man bring on certain emotions that are perhaps a little different from that of your other projects?

Krishna DK: Absolutely! The Family Man is now as much everyone else’s show as it is ours. When it comes out, the surge of emotions that everyone feels points to how much they wait for this show. The anticipation for it is heartwarming and we are thankful that it is loved so much. But it is also high pressure for us and a huge weight of expectations.

Is the pressure a little off now or has the ending of Season 3, that left everyone on edge and asking even more questions, brought on more pressure?

Raj Nidimoru: We are good for now (laughs). We have been ignoring this pressure all our lives, to be honest. Pressure is where you succumb to safety. And when your risk doesn’t pay off 100 per cent, it makes you rethink what you are doing. All these things are going to swim in our heads, but we are hoping that we can clear it out soon and move forward continuing to be true to the story.

The previous seasons have not only signed off with a clear denouement, but also teased the next. Why did you end this season without a clear picture of what is in store for Srikant Tiwari?

DK: Yes, a lot of people were like: ‘Whoa, it just ended?!’ When I brought this up to the people at Prime Video, they were like: ‘Yes, we know that has been the reaction, but that means that people want more of The Family Man, which is a good thing’ (smiles).

Honestly, we always conceived this story as a two-season arc. The scope of this season was that even though it starts off as Srikant’s (Manoj Bajpayee) journey to find and apprehend Rukma (Jaideep Ahlawat), the bigger conflict becomes that India is on the verge of war. Towards the end of this season, we see that Srikant has rescued the prisoners of war and they are safely back in India. Now we can assume that the war will de-escalate and hence, that part of the mission has been accomplished. There still is the remaining journey — where does Srikant go from here, where does Rukma go, what happens to Meera (played by Nimrat Kaur), does Srikant eventually get all of them...? That is the next part of the journey. We always thought of this as a two-parter and ending it where we did felt like an apt midpoint.

What are the minute details that keen followers of the show have picked up this season that has even surprised you?

Raj: I get a lot of forwards and screenshots of so many people having so many theories about each season. That has also happened this season.
We are glad when people even catch a driver’s name and also know why he was perhaps named so. The bigger ones have involved theories about why Srikant takes certain calls this season. Those are exciting for us to read because then you know that a large part of the audience has understood the various nuances and layers. Some of the reviews have also got the thematic idea right and when we realise that it is in sync with what we had set out to do, that is the biggest reward for us.

The general consensus among the reviewers has been that this season is more layered, more personal, as opposed to being more action-y.

What kind of research went into setting this season in North-East India, which is such a historically turbulent region?

DK: A lot of work went into it, like it always does. The Family Man has always been set in geopolitically active regions where there is conflict. Season 1 was set in Kashmir and we tried to be as authentic as possible, understand the local sentiment as well as our characters’ points of view. The idea is never to shove our protagonist’s or the creators’ points of view on to the characters from the region.

In Season 2, we did the same for the Sri Lankan Tamilian rebel group. This season, we went to the North East, primarily Nagaland, and spent a lot of time there — we researched, met locals, understood the basic core and the attitude and response that they have towards what has been happening in the region over decades, and while making it, we tried to be true to all these aspects as far as possible. That has always been a very important thing for the show.

A highlight of Season 3 is the Farzi x The Family Man crossover, with Vijay Sethupathi’s delightful cameo as Michael. Talk us through what went into that...

Raj: It started off very instinctively. We were making Season 1 of Farzi and we realised that we were shooting it on the same road as the one in which Srikant Tiwari’s house in The Family Man is. It was a Sunday and as we were shooting, we called up some of the actors from The Family Man to check who was available. A few of them were and we pulled them in quickly and made up a scene right there — one in which Vijay Sethupathi’s Michael from Farzi walks by and asks these characters from The Family Man for a smoke. The coming together of these two universes started from there.
DK: It started off because of geography... the fact that Michael’s CCFART (Counterfeiting & Currency Fraud Analysis & Research Team) office and Srikant’s TASC office (Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell) are on adjacent streets! (Laughs) That is how the universe was formed.
Raj: We write so much, we are forever writing. When we write, all these stories and characters from different universes keep swimming in our heads. There has never been any big plan that okay, we want to make this into a universe... I don’t even know if we are in that game, really. If it was left just to me, I would do one season of a show and move on to another show and not really get into creating seasons. We are always looking to make things that are new and fresh. Honestly, these are the keedas that writers have — put in an Easter egg here, connect some universe there, leave a clue somewhere in the middle.... It is definitely fun when the viewer discovers it.

So when we were making this season of The Family Man, we said: ‘Michael coming in at this point will be great.’ Even in Farzi, there is a scene where Michael calls up ‘Tiwari’, asking him for help. That is Srikant. So having Michael as the man Srikant calls for help this season was a natural extension of that.

The Family Man rests a lot on humour, and I would have liked to see a little more of it this season. Is there a key to weaving in the kind of subtle, deadpan humour the show is known for into its larger serious theme and tone?

Raj: The humour has always flown organically... it is present in the banter between them (Srikant and JK, played by Sharib Hashmi). There are no gags per se, no setup. The humour comes from the way they are naturally. A lot of the humour in The Family Man has also come from the fact that Srikant is an extremely good agent, but he is not so great in other aspects. Like, he is not a woke dad at all.

Yes, we have had feedback of how people would have liked a little more humour. But even in Seasons 1 and 2, the humour gets lesser as the story gets more intense. In any script, when the drama heightens, the humour automatically drops a few notches. It is not possible to force humour into the kind of situation Srikant finds himself in in the latter half of the third season, though we did include that scene between him and JK after they were caught by Rukma and were inside those cages in the last episode. So, whenever there is a situation where we can put in the show’s natural humour, we do so. Otherwise we have to stay true to the characters and the situations they are in.

Jaideep Ahlawat makes a formidable antagonist this season, but one who is also not afraid of showing his vulnerabilities. What made you want to humanise him, as well as Nimrat’s Meera to some extent?

DK: We have always had a 360-degree view for our antagonists. In Season 2, one always wanted Srikant to win, but you also felt for Raji (Samantha Ruth Prabhu), even though she was the antagonist. The way we look at it is that the antagonist is also a protagonist in their story. If you were to retell Season 3 from the point of view of Rukma, it would be his story... he is also trying to avenge the killing of a loved one. So the idea always is to treat everybody like a 360-degree character and tell the story once from their point of view. Then, when you put it together, it will fall into place.

DK, it was fun to spot you on screen as Suchi’s (Priyamani) colleague. But why was the role so brief?

Raj: I cut it out!

And there was no walk-on part for you, Raj?

Raj: No. Manoj has a problem working with actors who are better than him! (Laughs)

To end with the burning question, how long do we have to wait for the next season?

Raj: It won’t be that long, it has to be quicker. Amazon has strictly told us not to divulge this information, but yes, the pressure is immense to finish the story and we are working on it.

What question about The Family Man Season 3 would you like to ask Raj & DK?
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