The Family Man - Season 1

Story:

“The Family Man” is an Indian Hindi-language spy thriller TV series crafted by Raj & DK for the streaming platform Amazon Prime Video. The show revolves around Manoj Bajpayee’s character, Srikant Tiwari, who leads a double life as a middle-class man and an undercover intelligence officer for the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), a fictional division of the National Investigation Agency. Alongside Bajpayee, the cast includes Priyamani, Sharad Kelkar, Neeraj Madhav, Sharib Hashmi, Dalip Tahil, Sunny Hinduja, and Shreya Dhanwanthary. Raj & DK not only serve as producers and directors but also contributed to the storyline and screenplay along with Suman Kumar. The dialogue for the series was penned by Sumit Arora and Kumar. Samantha Ruth Prabhu joined the second season as the main antagonist, marking her digital debut, with Suparn S. Verma directing a segment of the season.

” The Family Man: Season 1″ was presented at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour in Los Angeles in July 2019 before premiering on Amazon Prime Video on 20 September 2019. It received widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences alike, lauding the performances of the cast, as well as the writing and execution of the storyline.

Season – 1

“The Family Man” narrates the tale of Srikant Tiwari, a seasoned officer serving in the Threat Analysis and Surveillance Cell (TASC), operating within the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India. He collaborates closely with his trusted friend and colleague, JK Talpade. Despite his professional commitments, Srikant is a devoted husband and father to two children. The first season delves into an investigation surrounding a potential terrorist threat, juxtaposed with the challenges of his somewhat tumultuous family life. Srikant, along with JK, and their team comprising Zoya, Milind, Jayesh, and Force One officer Imran Pasha, strive to thwart Mission Zulfiqar from reaching fruition. The series draws inspiration from real-life news articles.

Episode-1: “The Family Man”

The Indian Coast Guard apprehends a vessel carrying three individuals affiliated with ISIS in the Arabian Sea near Kochi and detains them. A unit known as Force One, led by Imran Pasha, is assigned to oversee the transfer of the detainees, under the supervision of TASC. Meanwhile, Dhriti, the daughter of Srikant Tiwari, who serves in T.A.S.C., faces potential suspension from school due to her questionable behavior. Two of the ISIS detainees attempt to flee in Mumbai, resulting in a confrontation with Force One operatives. Srikant persuades Moosa, one of the ISIS members, to surrender. Concurrently, in Pakistan, Major Sameer is orchestrating a mission within India to provoke military action. One of the ISIS militants plants a bomb on a scooter, which is being considered by Sameer for a mission dubbed Zulfiqar.

Episode-2: “Sleepers”

The bomb placed by an ISIS operative in the scooter near the Black Horse (Kaala Goda) statue detonates despite security forces’ attempts to disarm it, resulting in the fatalities of Chirayu, the bomb defuser, and two other members of the Bomb Disposal Squad. Pressure mounts to apprehend the bomber. Chief analysts at T.A.S.C receive intelligence implicating three gaming engineers associated with ISIS. Srikant devises a plan to apprehend them. Upon arresting them at their workplace, they reveal information about a dropbox and suspect a student at Victoria College, although they admit to never having encountered him in person.

Episode-3: “The Anti-National”

Kareem Bhat, a student flagged as anti-national, receives a mission request from ISIS. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, Major Sameer devises a plan to deceive Indian intelligence. Kareem retrieves a message from a monitored dropbox at Victoria College, catching the attention of T.A.S.C. Surveillance reveals his suspicious activities, prompting T.A.S.C. to monitor him closely. Kareem, sensing surveillance, evades T.A.S.C. and, with friends, prepares a van for an event hosted by an anti-Muslim MP. T.A.S.C. rushes to locate him amid concerns of a potential attack, leading to efforts to evacuate the Bhindi Bazaar market.

Episode-4: “Patriots”

Srikant becomes suspicious of his wife, Suchitra, when he observes her meeting Arvind at a restaurant regarding a job offer at Arvind’s workplace. Tracking Suchitra’s phone, Srikant confronts her at a hotel, where she denies any wrongdoing, insisting they are merely colleagues. Meanwhile, T.A.S.C successfully hacks into Kareem’s hard drive and identifies the strike location. However, when Kareem and his friends encounter T.A.S.C roadblocks on the night of the attack, a confrontation ensues, resulting in their demise. T.A.S.C discovers that Kareem’s intention was not to bomb the location but to serve beef to the guests as a form of protest. Returning home intoxicated, Srikant accuses Suchitra of infidelity. To protect T.A.S.C’s reputation, Kareem and his friends are labeled as terrorists. The final scene reveals that the actual perpetrator behind the scooter bombing is Sajid, a student from Victoria College who was recently released from jail after intense interrogation.

Episode-5: “Pariah”

Sajid encounters an ISIS operative who informs him that they have greater plans for him, and Kareem was sacrificed to safeguard his identity. Srikant, facing investigation, takes full responsibility during interrogation. Meanwhile, Moosa manipulates a nurse named Mary to achieve his objectives. Using Mary’s phone, he alerts ISIS that he plans to escape from the hospital in 2-3 days. While engaged with Mary, he leaves his hospital bed to meet Asif, where he fatally injects Potassium into his bloodstream. Sajid’s next assignment is to travel to Srinagar for Mission Zulfiqar. In parallel, Srikant receives a temporary transfer to Srinagar as a disciplinary action. He and Suchitra remain estranged. Upon arriving in Srinagar, Kulkarni reveals to Srikant that his transfer was prompted by intelligence from RAW concerning a significant terrorist sleeper agent arriving in Srinagar.

Episode-6: “Dance of Death”

The warrant shows that Moosa is one of Faizan’s top ISIS operatives and that he carried out a terrorist attack in Istanbul where he killed 270 people with nerve gas. Major Sameer recruits him for the Zulfiqar mission. Currently, Maria is scared to hear about Asif’s death, but does not reveal the truth to T.A.S.C or the hospital staff. Asif’s death is believed to have been due to cardiac arrest and security at the hospital has been greatly reduced while Pasha is in custody. The Srinagar team follows Bashara, who monitors all terrorist activities in Kashmir. Srikant learns that Moosa is actually Al Qatil, a dangerous chemical engineer and one of the most wanted terrorists. He asks JK and Pasha to rush to the hospital. In the hospital, Jayesh, Zoya and Milind guard Moosa when four armed men break into the hospital to free her. In the ensuing battles, Jayesh and Pasha are killed along with four attackers. Meanwhile, Moosa manages to escape from the hospital, but only after Maria is brutally murdered with a surgical knife and leaves a trail of corpses behind..

Episode-7: “Paradise”

As news of the attack on the city’s hospital spreads, T.A.S.C. again faces criticism and research. Suchitra goes to help Arvind when his daughter Rhea falls ill. In Srinagar, Sajid grows impatient and demands a call from Faizan. Meanwhile, Srikant and his team receive information that Basharat is attending a wedding in Baramulla; However, the people of Baramulla identify themselves as Pakistanis and the army cannot enter the area without disturbing the existing situation. Basharat attends the wedding to meet Sajid and get him in touch with Faizan. Concerned, Srikant comes to the wedding in disguise and identifies Sajid as one of the suspects arrested by the Mumbai police. He continues to chase after Sajid, ignoring the warning and orders of Salon and Major Vikram. Due to Srikanth’s impulsive actions, the army loses track of Basharat and Sajid easily escapes from there with the help of locals.

Episode-8: “Act of War”

Faizan falls into the hands of American forces in Pakistan after Srikant informs the CIA of his whereabouts. Srikant reaches Balochistan with the help of a RAW undercover agent. They extract information about Faizan posing as ISI agents, appealing to his patriotism towards Pakistan. It has been reported that terrorists are planning to release nerve gas in New Delhi. The gas has been smuggled into Kashmir for some time and is now being transported to Delhi. Sajid should transport the nerve gas and build the bomb with Moosa. The Prime Minister of India has been warned about this plan. Suchitra goes to Lonavla with Arvind for a conference and impresses the VCs. She is worried about something that happened between her and Arvind later that night, but it is not revealed. Home alone, Dhriti goes to her friend Sid’s house for a late night party and Atharv finds Srikant’s revolver in a locked room. Curious, he starts playing with it, but puts it under his pillow when Dhriti comes home crying..

Episode-9: “Fighting Dirty”

Some T.A.S.C officers accidentally send her phone to Jonal, Kareem’s love interest. This makes Jonal curious and he goes on a quest with social activist Ramya to find Kareem’s dead body hidden in an abandoned car. Pakistani Prime Minister enters into an agreement with General Ansari and abandons the Zulfiqar mission. The Pakistan Army’s 11th First Infantry arrests Major Sameer and tells the details of the nerve gas attack after hearing about General Ansari’s deal, but manages to alert Bashara, who approaches Sajid to stop him, but Sajid refuses. . Meanwhile, the Indian army manages to kill Basharat and his men in a firefight and take all the nerve gas canisters as Sajid escapes again. As the TASC team celebrates the failure of the terrorist attack, Sajid meets Moosa in New Delhi, where Moosa informs him that Zulfiqar’s mission has a plan B and that he is already blackmailing chemical engineer Vaibhav Theran to carry out the operation..

Episode-10: “The Bomb”

T.A.S.C understands that mission Zulfiqar is not over. Meanwhile, Moosa has a plan to recreate the Bhopal gas tragedy in New Delhi, while Sajid blackmails Vaibhav into entering the Orion Chemicals factory. Moosa’s men operate a tank of water that Moosa uses as a reagent for a toxic reaction. Moosa and Sajid arrive at a chemical factory and Moosa kills Vaibhav. Moosa sets up a facility to emit poison gases that kill everyone in Delhi within 2 hours. Zoya and Milind reach the chemical plant and find themselves in a shootout with Moosa’s men disguised as security guards. Srikant meets Moosa’s mother in Delhi and releases a video on the news where Moosa’s mother asks Moosa to surrender. Moosa changes her mind when she sees her mother and decides to stop the toxic gas leak, but Sajid disagrees and the two get into a brutal fistfight that ends with Moosa lying dead and Sajid leaving wounded. Srikant and JK prematurely celebrate victory again after finding Moosa’s dead body. Meanwhile, Zoya and Milind are cross and cannot come to Srikanth. In the final scene, it is shown that the pressure has reached a critical limit and poisonous gases have started leaking, Zoya is crying desperately and Milind is lying injured. Suddenly, one of the containers bursts open after reaching critical pressure and the show ends on a cliffhanger..