Family Man directors Raj and DK on why they didn’t make it into a film

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK reveal why they wanted The Family Man to be a series and not a film.

Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK have always believed in adding quirk to every project they take up, be it A Gentleman, or last year’s runaway hit Stree. And this year, they have got a winner in the form of their debut web series, The Family Man with Manoj Bajpayee.

Actor Manoj Bajpayee at the launch of his web series The Family Man. (IANS)

The series has received acclaim from both the viewers and critics, and speculations are rife that the second season is on it’s way. They confirm, “It has to be made. There is a lot of excitement for it. We have a story. Yes, it will be made.”

With the big question out of the way, we proceed to ask them the reactions they have been receiving for it. They say, “One of the best compliments was someone saying they watched it three times back to back. We thought ‘why would you do that?’ The person said he couldn’t believe so much was there in a series, so many layers to it. They were fascinated.’ The show revolves around Manoj’s character, who is hiding the fact that he is an on-ground secret agent, from his family.

Actors Gul Panag, Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani at the launch of their web series The Family Man. (IANS)

“Another funny one,” Raj and DK continue, “Was one person writing on social media ‘I know I am late, but I am 15 minutes into the first episode, it’s really good’, and by the time I was reading some 12 hours later, he had posted about two hours back ‘just finished the series’!”

The duo has been directing films for many years now, with their first commercial outing being 99 in 2009. Since then, a few films which figure on their filmography include Go Goa Gone and Happy Ending. What made them try their hand at the web space?

They reveal, “We wanted to diversify a bit, because we realised we were only making one film every two years. In those times, we realised we have written a lot, and the feeling before Stree was that we were not being able to get our stories out. The average time was too long.”

The concept for The Family Man had been ready for quite a few years. “We were waiting for a good platform to come along, we wanted to get on the bigger ones. We had the concept of it, the character, theme and idea, but we held on to it for a couple of years to make sure we were doing it at the right time with the right people. We knew a two-hour film won’t do justice to it,” they add.

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