The Family Man (Indian TV series)

The Family Man is an Indian Hindi-language spy thriller streaming television series created by Raj & DK for Amazon Prime Video. It features Manoj Bajpayee as Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class man secretly working as an intelligence officer for the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), a fictitious branch of the National Investigation Agency. It also stars Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja and Shreya Dhanwanthary. The series is produced and directed by Raj & D.K, who also co-wrote the story and screenplay with Suman Kumar and Tusshar Seyth, with dialogue penned by Sumit Arora and Manoj Kumar. Samantha Ruth Prabhu was hired for the second season of the series as the main antagonist, making her foray into the digital medium, with Suparn S. Verma directing a section of the season.

The series was announced in June 2018, with the filming of the first season starting simultaneously in Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh; and it was wrapped up by May 2019. Filming for the second season began in November 2019, and was wrapped up in September 2020. The cinematography for the first season was handled by Azim Moolan and Nigam Bomzan, with Cameron Eric Bryson hired for the second season. Sumeet Kotla edited the series, while Ketan Sodha composed the background score.

The Family Man: Season 1 was showcased at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour held in Los Angeles in July 2019, and eventually premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 20 September 2019. It received acclaim from critics and audiences, who praised the performance of the cast members, writing and execution. It eventually became the most viewed streaming series on Amazon Prime Video. The second season was scheduled to be aired on 12 February 2021 but was delayed, and it was finally released on 4 June 2021. Amazon announced the third season began shooting in May 2024. On 27 June 2025, the production team released an announcement teaser for the third season. A promotional video released on 28 October 2025 confirmed that the third season was premiered on 21 November 2025. The trailer of the 3rd Season was released on 7 November 2025.

The Family Man has received eleven Filmfare OTT Awards, five Asian Academy Creative Awards and two awards at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

Synopsis

Season 1

The Family Man follows the story of Srikant Tiwari, who works as a senior officer in the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), along with his best friend & colleague JK Talpade, which is a part of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India. He is a married man with two kids. The first season follows an investigation of a potential terrorist attack, while simultaneously following his slightly unsettled family life. Srikant and JK, along with their subordinates Zoya, Milind and Jayesh, and Force One officer Imran Pasha work on stopping Mission Zulfiqar from succeeding. The show is inspired by real life newspaper articles.

Season 2

The second season's story line focuses on a Tamil Tiger-esque military resistance from Sri Lanka and their plans for a freedom fight.

Season 3

In the third season, the story follows rising tensions in North-East India and shows how COVID-19 is used to distract from China’s efforts to expand its presence along the China-India border. A group of international defense companies also works to increase military hardware sales in the region by creating planned chaos. Srikant Tiwari is framed as a scapegoat by Meera, who manages the destabilization operations as an intermediary for the group, and by Rukma, a contracted drug dealer turned mercenary. Major Sameer watches the developments unfold and enters the picture at the end of part one.

Cast

Main

Recurring

• Kishore Kumar as Major Imran Pasha, Force One leader
• Vijay Vikram Singh as Ajit
• Debasish Mondal as Jayesh
• Krishna D. K. as Nikhil
• Arpit Singh as Hussain
• Mir Sarwar as Faizan
• Aritro Rudraneil Banerjee as Punit Banerjee
• Kachoo Ahmad Khan as Altaf
• Sanyukta Timsina as Jonali
• Shahid Latief as Basharat Ali
• Jay Upadhyay as Dr. Patel
• Suresh Vishwakarma as Inspector Suresh Jadhav
• Sohaila Kapur as School Principal
• Ajay Jadhav as Shinde
• Geeta Nair as Ramya Sathe
• Mark Bennington as Bruce Lennington
• Shahid Gulfam as Mustafa
• GM Wani as Pakistan's PM Qazi
• Yatendra Bahuguna as Vaibhav Therani
• Mime Gopi as Bhaskaran Palanivel
• Azhagam Perumal as Deepan Anthony
• Anandsami as Selvarasan (Selva)
• Srikrishna Dayal as Subramaniam Palanivel (Subbu)
• Abhishek Shankar as Sri Lanka's PM Lasit Rupatunga
• Tareeq Ahmed Khan as Syed
• Kaustubh Kumar as Tanmay Ghosh, Srikant's corporate job boss
• Asif Basra as Counsellor
• Vipin Sharma as Sambit
• M. Ranjith as Karthik
• Rajesh Balachandiran as Prabhu
• Prakash Rajan as Nanda
• J. Perumal as Jebaraj
• Shruti Bisht as Mahima
• Sharik Khan as Rahul
• Patrali Chattopadhyay as Gunjan
• Tintin Raikhan as Unnamed Chinese spy who gets a go-ahead for Project Guan-Yu by his Chinese handler
• Sunil Thapa as David Khuzou
• Paalin Kabak as Stephen Khuzou
• Ravi Varma as Varaprasad Pakala
• Andrea Kevichüsa as Nima
• Riyan Mipi as Bobby
• Tenzing Dalha as Rabbit
• Millo Sunka as Jesmina
• Poonam Gurung as Ulupi
• Riken Ngomle as Subbu
• Akshat Singh as Vasant
• Bryan Lawrence as Martin Hall
• Adeel Ali as Lloyd
• Jason Tham as Colonel Zhulong
• Diwakar Dhyani as General Nawaz Hasan
• Rag Mayur as Maridesh Babu
• Vijay Sethupathi as Michael Vedanayagam (cameo appearance)

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2021)

Season 3 (2025)

Production

Development

In November 2017, filmmakers Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. planned to direct a streaming series, with Akshaye Khanna hired as the lead role. It was touted to be a socio-political thriller, with Khanna initially agreeing to the series after accepting the script finalised by Raj Nidimoru, but due to budget constraints in which Khanna charged a huge amount for the series, the makers replaced him with Manoj Bajpayee as the lead character in December 2017. On 30 August 2023, in an interview, Aswani Dutt revealed the story was originally crafted by Raj & DK for Chiranjeevi. However, Chiranjeevi turned down the project due to reservations about his character having two children. Subsequently, the story was adapted into a series with a different cast, and it garnered favourable reviews. The ten-episode series, tentatively titled as The Family Man, marked the digital debut of Bajpayee. On 13 June 2018, Amazon Prime Video, which bagged the streaming rights, officially announced the series, stating it as an "edgy drama-action series with a touch of wry humour, drawing from real incidents".

In an interview with Scroll.in, Raj and D.K. said the series is closely based to Shor in the City (2011), in terms of its tone, stating, "It is dramatic and edgy with action involved. The humour is the kind of stuff that comes just from working in and dealing with the system or bureaucracy in our country. The series draws from contemporary geopolitical issues, and most plot threads are inspired from newspaper headlines over the years." A Deccan Chronicle article released in September 2019, stated the series features similarities with actual events. The makers announced a third season in May 2020. Soon after the release and success of the second season, the third season set in North East India was announced to be in development.

Casting

Manoj Bajpayee plays the role of Srikant Tiwari, a middle-class man who works for a National Investigation Agency cell. While he tries to protect the nation from terrorists, he also has to protect his family from the impact of his secretive, high-pressure, and low-paying job.

"There is a lot of content out there for people to watch, so it becomes essential for us to not only make our series sincerely and sensitively but also to tell a unique story – something that concerns the common man and his uncommon life with his extra-ordinary struggle. To balance not only his family but also his job which is very, very demanding."