The third season of The Family Man on Prime Video shifts its narrative to highlight Srikant Tiwari's personal and family struggles alongside espionage elements. Manoj Bajpayee reprises his role as the spy on the run, accused of treason, while Jaideep Ahlawat plays a charismatic villain. The season explores how middle-class family dynamics intersect with counter-terror missions.
The Family Man season 3, released on Prime Video, marks a departure from the proactive espionage of its predecessors by placing protagonist Srikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) in a reactive position. Accused of being a traitor, Srikant finds himself on the run, a storyline that echoes the first season's tension but feels underwhelming compared to earlier installments where he traversed locations like Kashmir, Kandahar, Balochistan, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Vedaranyam to outmaneuver threats.
This season delves deeper into family drama, portraying a messy modern Indian middle-class household grappling with emotional struggles and marital issues. Srikant's efforts to protect his wife and children, including scenes where others rescue his family, underscore the subversion of traditional gender roles in balancing career and home life. Reviewers note the absence of the chaotic juggling act from prior seasons, such as abruptly leaving a daughter's school meeting for a terrorist pursuit or a son's birthday for a terror track.
The antagonist, Rukma (Jaideep Ahlawat), emerges as a drug dealer and gun-for-hire driven by greed and grief, lacking the ideological depth of past villains like Moosa Rehman (Neeraj Madhav) in season 1 or Raji (Samantha Ruth Prabhu) and Sajid (Shahab Ali) in season 2. Unlike those characters, whose traumas tied into real-world events like the Gujarat riots or ethnic violence, Rukma's immediate reveal of his strapping physicality and entourage diminishes surprise. Meera (Nimrat Kaur), a powerful fixer, forms an emotional bond with him, but it pales against previous antagonist dynamics.
While exchanges with colleague JK and family moments provide highlights, the season misses the thrilling cat-and-mouse chases and ordinary appearances that defined the show's appeal. Critics hope future parts restore the legacy of ordinary people exhibiting extraordinary courage or evil.