Family Man team discusses the making of 'James Bond of Chembur' at IFFI

"Srikant Tiwari is everywhere. We are the biggest middle class in the world. We don't need a reference for

Srikant Tiwari

, we are the reference," said Manoj Bajpayee as team Family Man discussed humour, action, drama, process, and the philosophy of the series at the panel discussion – ‘Creating Cult Icons: India's own James Bond (007)’ - in

IFFI

in Goa.

At the core of Family Man is the question - 'What all would an Indian James Bond have to deal with?'Manoj Bajpayee, who joined the session virtually, said that Family Man was offered to him when he was swamped with offers from makers of series, but he was reluctant to do a web series because he didn't want to be a part of a template. He said, "I was not clear as to what I wanted to be a part of, but I was very clear what I never wanted to be part of."
He revealed that his reference for

Srikant Kishore

was the Indian middle class and hence all he had to do was to observe to get into character. He said, "We are from India. I don’t have to go to any particular place to observe Srikant Tiwari. I have to look within myself and find Srikant Tiwari. I have to look at my father’s life, my brother’s, my friends' and my neighbours' lives, Srikant Tiwari is everywhere. They are the people who are travelling from Vasai and Virar to Churchgate every day at 4:30-5 in the morning to reach offices and then go back to their respective homes. I have had so many experiences like that and leading a middle-class life has definitely helped me in creating Srikant Tiwari. As our I&B minister had tweeted 'our own James Bond', but we were not thinking of creating James Bond."
Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, the creators of the show said that they dropped two films to create this series. And as one of the first few Indian directors of web series, they also found that digital platforms gave them an option to cast from anywhere across the country, unlike in Hindi films.
Raj Nidimoru said, "How do you make an authentic desi James Bond? We always say that this is James Bond from Chembur'.”
DK added, "Basically the thought at the core of this was 'what if James Bond was in India, what would he have to deal with?' Firstly, he is a government employee, so he needs a house loan, he is thinking about pension and he’s underpaid compared to the risks he takes. Probably very underappreciated too."

I never try to make my characters larger-than-life, stick to requirements and realism: Manoj Bajpayee
When asked how Manoj Bajpayee makes something uniquely his own without replicating something that he may have seen, Manoj Bajpayee said that while in his early days he was influenced and impacted by actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino, he then realised that his work should be his own. He said," Your own interpretation of your life, society, and your character has to be communicated through your craft. I somehow realised very early in life that, more and more, my work will be Manoj’s interpretation. That way, it will reach a wider audience. I think somewhere that really worked for the audience. I am not just Manoj Bajpayee, but I am also the character I am representing. The character has to represent a massive population. Be it Samar Pratap (Shool) or Bhiku Mhatre (Satya) or

Sardar Khan

(Gangs of Wasseypur), they have to look like they are coming from life. I never tried to make it larger-than-life. I try to stick to requirements and realism, and then leave it to the audience."

Playing the role of Raji was a decision that tremendously benefitted me: Samantha
Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who played

Sri Lankan Tamil

liberation fighter Raji in Season 2 of The Family Man, said it was a role she could not refuse.
She said,"Female actors get unidimensional characters but Raji was so different and exciting. It allowed me to explore a new dimension and that was an option I did not have (before). So, I think the actor in me just could not refuse."
Samantha, who has acted in Telugu and Tamil films like Mahanati, and

Super Deluxe

, said she decided to take a risk with Raji as she wanted to grow as an actor.
She said,"I am a commercial actor otherwise and I know that maybe there was a risk of Raji (the character's ruthlessness, in particular) costing me a certain love of my audience, but I needed to take a risk. It was a decision that has benefited me tremendously and it has opened so many new avenues for me. I am very, very excited about it. The audience can now separate between actors and characters."

She said that for her, Raji's physical strength needed to be communicated very convincingly as it was like her test to make the character authentic.
Samantha said, "I sat in several meetings with Raj and DK to understand the essence of the character that pushes women like Raji to join a rebellion, and the reality is much harsher than what is shown in the series. For me, Raji's body and strength were almost like a tool to explain how hardened her soul was. I needed to make sure that was authentic and I needed to make sure to train the way Raji would be trained. I only prepared for the physical part of it and that’s why I needed a lot of hand-holding by Raj and DK. I wanted them to be there for me. I was the most vulnerable I have ever been while playing a certain role while being the opposite of it on screen."
She continued, "Physical strength was part of the process but there were other challenges. This character was so beautifully written that we needed to balance the audience's need to feel a certain empathy with Raji’s angst and pain, and at the same time, allow them to be also repulsed by her actions."Raj told the audience that he has never seen a female character doing such amazing action on the screen so well. He said, "I always share this anecdote. In the series, there is a scene where she kills her boss - who is hitting on her - in one swift move. After the scene was over, she was sitting there and asked us ‘you got it?’ And both of us said, "Yes, we got it." Then, she started crying and bawling. DK added, "Before the mission comes to the character (Raji’s), she is almost suicidal. She is done with life. When Samantha started crying, that was when we realised what she has been going through. The weight of the character was so much, that when we said that we were done with these scenes, I don’t know what happened, but all of it came out. As an actor, she must have gotten into the mind of that character and that must have been weighing on her over days."

If you detach yourself, middle-class life is such a comedy: Manoj
Talking about the quirkiness of the series and his comedy, Manoj Bajpayee said, "The life of the middle-class is such a comedy. We never had this intention to make people laugh. We were always looking at how this character is going to respond in the given mental situation he is in. The life of the middle class is such a comedy, if you detach yourself, comedy is always happening. If you detach yourself, a lot is going on. For me, it's all the observations that come in handy."
Added DK, "It all goes back to how you can look at life in two ways at any point of the time." Giving an example, he said, "I can look at this whole setting (the IFFI session) and take it very seriously, or I can find something funny here like how Samantha’s dressed versus how we are dressed, or how three guys in the audience are yawning. With Manoj, I think he has not done comedy before. It's putting a spy who is kicking ass for the country, (in a situation where he) has to deal with his hyperactive, over-enthusiastic kid and his smart-ass answers to him. Like Samantha was saying -' I will do all my lines and Manoj will look at me and take away the scene'. If you see Family Man 2, most of the humor comes from his stares, reacting, and exasperated looks. His straight-faced humour is authentic."
Aparna Purohit, head of India Originals at Amazon Prime, added, "The show just became a part of popular culture. Like Chellam Sir's 'Don’t be a minimum guy' has become part of our lingo.”
Raj joked, "From being asked, 'When are you getting married?', my family now asks me, 'when is Family Man season 3 coming out?'"