What is it with India and spy thrillers? And especially spy thrillers which are not well-made? The latest in this list of disappointments this year is The Family Man which sees an earnest Manoj Bajpayee trying his best to not let your concentration sway, but he has the internet generation to cater to. 10 episodes of The Family Man, binged on, is not worth it. You will find your attention wavering more times than many, right from the first episode.

'Created by' Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, this series is centred on Srikant Tiwari, who is a struggling family man but a star at his workplace. He is part of the brains that stop a terror attack from happening. One of the numerous nameless people who listen to taunts of "arey 26/11 rokna hota toh yeh log rok nahi lete?" while seeing their families slowly crumbling because they are always busy with "files and paperwork".

The Family Man begins on a promising note. The first episode shares its name with the name of the series and starts with a shot of Manoj Bajpayee getting done with his morning routine of anulom-vilom. He rolls up his yoga mat and goes back home, along with a bazaar-ka-bag with dhaniya peeking out of it. The scene smells mouldy. But that is just his marriage. He is a 'family man', but the family is the last place where he has a place. His children think he is a 'loser'. The strains of pulling a family single-handedly are visible on his wife's face.

Cut to his work. This is a place where Srikant is respected by his juniors and friends but has a hard time with his immediate supervisor. Along with JK (Sharib Hashmi), Tiwari sets off ticking off the day's checklist. There are terror operations to prevent and suspects to be interrogated.

Raj and DK's series wants your attention without really deserving it. The 'true events' that the series is inspired from are all strewn across the opening and end credits lest you miss any. This montage of headlines are all taken up and dealt with in the episodes of this series. But the problem with being inspired by true events is when you are inspired by just them. Sadly, The Family Man has so much of the 'real world' stuffed into it that it feels jarring. The purpose of art is to shake the conscience of the society. But when done in this inelegant a manner, it can put you off the art altogether.

The Family Man suffers from the curse of too much. Everything that is wrong with the society today, and more, is in it. From lynching to picking up Muslims because of their identities, there are traces of a Pehlu Khan to Batla House in The Family Man. And then, of course, the scene shifts to Balochistan for a while (like it is with every other India-based espionage thriller). Enemy No 1 Pakistan is still our enemy no 1. There is the wayward engineer from Kerala who is seeking revenge from the Indian government by killing people. There is the Islamic State and talk of nuclear bombs. You get the drift. There is Kashmir, with its AFSPA and stone-pelters in place. There is the stock ISI major and CIA agent who is looking for a 'most wanted' terrorist.

Where The Family Man falters is in its writing. The first five episodes demand your attention but does nothing to be rewarded with it. In 2019, in a world post the Netflix boom, that is criminal. And this year, we have already dragged ourselves through Sacred Games 2.

The problem with this series lies in the way it is narrated. The characters are not fleshed out enough either. We see Srikant and Suchi (Priyamani) trying to make their marriage work, even as there are ex-girlfriends and colleagues sprinkled over it. In almost eight hours that The Family Man takes from you, it doesn't tell you how Srikant and Suchi's marriage reached this impasse. You are left to make your own deductions: a love marriage that is now showing the wear and tear wreaked by time. They have two children, who have their own issues. The reason these threads are left hanging is because The Family Man devotes more time in showing you random conversations on how the Army has a free hand in Kashmir to a house party where Hindi imposition is touched upon. And none of it convincingly.

The series is based on a 'dhamaka' that is expected to be 'bigger than even 26/11'. When the series actually reaches that 'dhamaka', it turns out to be that leftover box of anaar you stored away last Diwali for use this year. It can no longer catch a spark now.

Bottomline: should you watch The Family Man? Only if you have eight hours to spare. Despite Manoj Bajpayee's work, The Family Man is really a dampener. In the OTT universe, where you are always craving more time to finish a series, you can skip The Family Man at ease. Spend your time on something better. Some of us don't have a choice.

(The writer tweets as @ananya116)

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