Farzi: How clever cameos bring Shahid Kapoor-Vijay Sethupathi show and Manoj Bajpayee's The Family Man in same universe

Farzi, the new show by Raj & DK, released on Friday, receiving mixed to positive reviews and praise from fans. The show, which stars Shahid Kapoor and Vijay Sethupathi, follows an artist-turned-counterfeiter and a cop’s attempts to capture him. But some subtle and not-so-subtle cameos and Easter eggs in the show hint that it may be connected to another show from the director duo – The Family Man.

Spoilers for Farzi ahead!

Farzi follows the journey of Sunny (Shahid) and how he comes to make counterfeit notes for a kingpin played by Kay Kay Menon. It also tracks how zealous cop Michael (Vijay) tries to nab these two. The Family Man, which has had two successful seasons on Prime Video (the same platform as Farzi) focuses on Indian intelligence operative Shrikant Tiwari (Manoj Bajpayee) and his efforts to balance his family life and professional life. Both shows are set in contemporary India.

While no major character from The Family Man appears in Farzi, there are enough bread crumbs and cameos to confirm that both shows may be part of the same cinematic universe. A stray scene involves Vijay Sethupathi’s Michael asking two individuals about Tiwari (a reference to Manoj’s character). What makes this scene interesting is that those two individuals have been seen in The Family Man as Tiwari’s associates.

Another scene in episode 5 shows Chellam sir, a mysterious character played by Udaybhanu Maheshwaram, cross over from The Family Man to Farzi. In both shows, he helps law enforcement by providing them key information pertaining to their case. Later in the episode, when faced with an uphill battle to gather intelligence support overseas, Michael reaches out to his ‘friend Tiwari’. The scene shows him talking on the phone with Tiwari and he asks him about his ‘family’, a direct reference to The Family Man. The voice on the other end sounds an awful lot like Manoj Bajpayee and he even mutters an iconic line from the show upon the request.

All this sets up for more crossovers and maybe a Michael-Shrikant team up in the future, maybe as early as The Family Man 3. In an interview with DNA, Raj & DK confirmed that the third season is next in line and should be releasing soon. Fans are certainly looking forward now.