Bard of Blood vs The Family Man

Bard of Blood vs The Family Man – Netflix vs Amazon

This seems to be a competition of 2 streaming services I am choosing to explore with this post today

Both the series have been released a week apart

The Family Man premiered on 20th September whereas Bard of Blood made it’s premiere on 27th September 2019

So, who emerges victorious? Let’s find out!

Bard of Blood vs The Family Man

The Family Man is an Indian action drama web series on Amazon Prime Video created by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K..

Starring Manoj Bajpayee and Priyamani in the lead roles, it tells the story of a middle-class man secretly working for the National Investigation Agency

The Family Man premiered on Prime Video in September, 2019.

What doesn’t work?

• The patch work employed towards the fag end of the season tends to disappoint
• The reason for this is the fact that the writing from the start is pretty neat
• So, when you experience a need to wrap up things as we approach the end comes across as banal
• It would have helped if a few episodes could have been added to give closure
• It would have been even better if the script was fleshed to take things to a logical conclusion
• This would have kept us hopeful that the strands would be picked up in Season 2

What Actually works?

• The humor interlaced in the day to day activities of these spies is flat out brilliant
• Even though the proceedings tend to push them to the brink of danger, you feel hopeful that they will survive
• The pressure of these officers who put their country ahead of everything else speaks volumes about their dedication
• When you add to the fact that most of them remain nameless, it just heightens our sense of how little we appreciate these faceless heroes
• The script (Raj, Krishna, Suman Kumar, Sumit Arora) keeps a tight leash on the proceedings
• Their grasp of this medium is on full display as it shows how much of research has gone into giving you a full blown espionage thriller
• Certain plot twists are employed tactfully and seamlessly integrated into the narrative
• Some of the sequences are choreographed beautifully (Azim Moolan & Nigam Bomzan)
• This is pretty evident by 2 action scenes that are shot as one take and the execution is stupendous
• The Performances by the overall cast is Outstanding
• The one’s who deserve special mention are Bajpayee, Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi and Neeraj Madhav
• Neeraj Madhav is actually a revelation in the role of the Man with a Mission
• The dialogues are witty, on point and capture the day to day essence of a common man

The Verdict?

The Family Man keeps you hooked right from the opening frames of Ep 1 right up until Ep 10

Even though, there is a bit of a mess in the last 2, the end leaves you with Hope

The Hope that Raj & Krishna will carve out a better fleshed out Season 2!

Bard of Blood vs The Family Man

Bard of Blood is an Indian fictional spy thriller web television series based on the 2015 espionage novel of the same name by Bilal Siddiqi.

Directed by Ribhu Dasgupta and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment;

The series stars Emraan Hashmi in the lead role along with Kirti Kulhari, Vineet Kumar Singh, Jaideep Ahlawat and Sobhita Dhulipala.

It is a seven-episode series that revolves around the story of an ex-RAW agent.

 The series premiered on 27 September 2019 on Netflix.

What works?

• The Performances by most of the cast is commendable
• The ones that stand out are Hashmi, Dhulipala, Singh and Alhawat
• A special mention goes to Kulhari for portraying a character that is internally strong regardless of the strife and chaos in the backdrop
• The locations do lend a bit of authenticity to the premise
• Some parts of the script do add heft at times to the narrative thereby making it worth your time

Now, What doesn’t Work?

• The portrayal of espionage and the way these operations are executed is shown in the most dismal manner
• It’s almost an embarrassment to real life officers/spies/agents who risk their lives every other day
• Most of the set pieces in the story are set up in a predictable manner
• Every other character, motive or intention is spelt out to the audiences
• The character or story building is forgotten for pace, thrills and convenient plot twists
• Most of the turns can be coming spotted a mile away
• A red herring thrown in one of the mid episodes is extremely predictable
• It will instantaneously allow you to anticipate how the series will end
• The Performances including Hashmi never rise above the extra ordinary thereby staying strictly Ok
• The effort from the star cast is undone because of the way their characters have been scripted: One Dimensional
• Most of the broader strokes of terrorism, discrimination are done through a one eyed lens
• This lends a stereotypical view of how most of us look at these topics
• Thus, the humane behind why these characters behave a certain rationale is lost

The Verdict?

Bard of Blood is pretty conventional in terms of execution and could have been better

I haven’t read the source material it is adapted from but I guess that would be miles better than this adaptation

So, Who Wins?

Bard of Blood vs The Family Man?

Netflix vs Amazon?

Let’s just say, that The Family Man makes for a better product compared to Bard of Blood

It evenly edges out characters, narrative tropes and Geo-political issues to give a compelling story of unsung heroes

Bard of Blood turns out pretty mundane because of the way it has been executed

It fails to be what could have made for a gripping thriller

Bard of Blood vs The Family Man – Go for the latter

It will make for an interesting binge watch!

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