Southern talents shine again in 'The Family Man'

‘The Family man 2’ special

Tamil actor Anand Sami essays the role of Selva, a Sri Lankan rebel

Suman Kumar is the writer of the show

The hit web series ‘The Family Man’, directed by Raj and DK, has received praise for being inclusive. Although it is predominantly in Hindi, the story has provided ample room for several south Indian artistes to shine. This is a result of excellent casting.

Since Season 1 showed militants from Kerala, the team had roped in gifted Malayalam actors like Neeraj Madhav and Dinesh Prabhakar for those roles. Kishore, who mainly works in the Kannada industry, played the role of tough policeman Pasha.

The second season is set in Chennai and the series is on target with the casting again. A set of experienced Tamil actors like Devadarshini, Azhagam Perumal, Mime Gopi and Uday Mahesh play significant roles.

The scenes are organic because the characters speak in Tamil without appearing out of place. “Today, content is independent of location and device now,” Suman Kumar, writer of the show, tells Showtime. “Watching a movie is like reading a book. It has become a personal experience and the language doesn’t matter.”

A resident of Bengaluru, Suman is a childhood friend of Krishna DK from the director-duo. He is a stand-up comedian and author of the English book 'Ranga Half-Pants', a coming-of-age tale of love and friendship.

“The beauty of the series is that despite the characters speaking in different languages, everybody understands everybody,” adds Suman. He aims to be a full-fledged writer.

The series has introduced many relatively new actors from the south. Ravindra Vijay plays Muthu Pandian, an investigative officer in Chennai. Born and raised in Bengaluru, Ravindra is a doctor who chose to be a full-time actor.

“It is rare to see films with actors of different industries speaking their languages, and different cities being represented correctly. We must have more cross-over content like 'Family Man',” says Ravindra.

Ravindra is active in the theatre group called Perch in Chennai. He first nurtured his acting dreams at a drama group called Rafiki in Bengaluru.

“Bengaluru makes you learn many languages. I am fluent in Kannada but can easily switch to other languages,” says the polyglot, who has acted in popular Tamil films like ‘Dharala Prabhu’ and ‘Kadaram Kondan’ and the highly acclaimed Telugu film ‘Uma Maheshwara Ugra Roopasya’.

Anand Sami is another unheralded name who has caught people’s attention. Playing Selva, a Sri Lankan rebel, Anand delivers an arresting performance. “I worked hard on perfecting the Jaffna Tamil. It’s not just a dialect but an altogether different language. I had to redo even if I made one mistake because we were shooting in sync sound,” he says.

Anand thanks Raj and DK for giving him a free hand during the shoot. “They listened to my inputs on how Selva must look and dress,” he reveals. With a two-decade old stint in theatre in Chennai, Anand hopes to be regular in films. He has worked in critically acclaimed independent Tamil films like 'Lens' and 'Kuthiraivaal'.