The Family Man Season 3 Ending Explained: Does Srikant Die?

Prime Video’s ‘The Family Man’ returns for a third season, throwing Srikant Tiwari another fray of conspiracy and chaos. He has been in a tough spot with his crumbling marriage, but once again, personal matters must be put aside as he focuses on saving the country. This time, his mission takes him to Northeast India, specifically Nagaland, where an effort is underway to secure a peace deal between the government and the region’s major militant groups. Things become increasingly complicated and dangerous with every episode. It culminates in an explosive finale, which leaves the audience with more questions than answers. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Family Man Season 3 Plot Synopsis

A bomb blast in Kohima shakes the nation and throws PM Basu and her people into disarray, as she had been working to find lasting peace in the region. For this, Project Sahakar has been created, and NIA head Gautam Kulkarni has played a pivotal role in bringing it to the point where an end to the conflict seems possible. For the meeting, where all major local leaders are expected to attend, Kulkarni, accompanied by Srikant, travels to Nagaland, where he meets David, his friend and the person responsible for bringing the local leaders to the table. However, their plans are not carried out as their convoy is attacked, leaving Srikant as the sole survivor. An investigation into the case brings in a new person in charge, while Srikant conducts his own investigation. He recognises the man who killed Kulkarni, and it is revealed to be a drug dealer named Rukma.

Rukma was hired by a woman named Meera, who works for a UK-based Indian billionaire named Dwaraknath, who, in turn, works for an organisation called the Collective. Meera comes into contact with Rukma through Major Sameer, who remains free despite his actions in the first and second seasons. At home, Srikant struggles to keep his family together, especially as Suchi becomes more and more distant from him. The children can also sense the conflict between them, but they don’t decipher the truth on their own, and in the meantime, things continue to worsen for all of them.

Does Srikant Die? What Happens to Rukma?

The quest to find Rukma takes Srikant to Stephen, who himself is in hiding because the authorities believe he is responsible for the deaths of Kulkarni and David. After extensive searching, Srikant is able to reach out to Stephen, and together, they devise a plan to locate Rukma and bring him to justice. For that, however, they will have to cross the border and enter Myanmar. As if that isn’t an illegal endeavor in itself, the mission is made more dangerous by the fact that Rukma is hiding in one of the phoenix villages, which are built to breed insurgents and terrorists. With the help of Temzin, Stephen’s inside man in the village, they are able to confirm the locations of Rukma. They also discover that the Indian soldiers who were ambushed during a Black Ops mission are being held there as well. So, it is decided that first, they will get the soldiers and then Rukma.

Unbeknownst to them, Rukma’s men followed Tenzin, so they prepared for Srikant and his team. Fortunately, Stephen foresaw this, which is why he had put a second team on standby; it jumped into action when they didn’t hear from their leader for 24 hours. With the soldiers freed, Srikant focuses on Rukma as the whole place erupts into chaos. While JK and Stephen leave with the soldiers, Srikant and Vikram stay behind with Stephen’s man to find Rukma. However, when the enemy cavalry arrives, they are forced to retreat. The problem is that Srikant doesn’t leave with them. He has his mind set on killing Rukma, so he follows the villain, even if it means going further into enemy territory. As they finally confront each other, a fight breaks out, where each tries to gain the upper hand over the other.

Rukma cannot understand why Srikant is still pursuing him when the rest of his team is already gone. This is because he doesn’t know that when he killed Kulkarni, he killed someone very close to Srikant. Eventually, both end up shooting each other, though the shots are not fatal. When Rukma finds his window to escape, he rides away on a motorbike. Srikant is forced to hide while the other enemy vehicles pass by, but as soon as he is in the clear, he finds a car and uses it to chase after Rukma. By this time, Srikant has already bled a lot. While driving, he starts to lose consciousness until eventually he loses control of the vehicle, which crashes into a tree. Srikant gets out of it and rests by another tree, but he is battered and bleeding, and on the wrong side of the border. His chances of survival don’t look so good. Fortunately, his friend, JK, is not someone who will give up on him so easily.

When Vikram comes back, he informs JK about Srikant’s actions. Most likely, JK will turn towards his superiors for help. He will update them on the situation, and they will be happy to know that the soldiers are back. At the same time, they, and possibly the government of Myanmar, would be glad to know that one of the phoenix villages has been destroyed. This might lead the Indian and Myanmar forces to collaborate and find Srikant in time to save him. As for Rukma, things don’t look so good. While he is also bleeding, he is in a better state than Srikant. Still, he has lost his people, and due to the mess created in the Phoenix village, Colonel Zhulong is unlikely to be very amicable towards him. With the Indian authorities and his former allies out for his blood, Rukma has few options. The only person he may be able to ask for help is Major Sameer, but he has other things on his mind.

Is Meera Dead? Why does Sameer Kill Her?

Major Sameer has been one of the primary villains in ‘The Family Man’ since Season 1. The third season sees his role reduced as he takes a backseat while people like Rukma and Meera take over. This also presents a different side of the man, which perhaps was not as prominent in the previous seasons: his love for his country. Since the first season, he has been working against India, and his hate has been at the forefront of his actions. Under the surface, however, lies a more powerful emotion: a desire to see Pakistan succeed. He acknowledges the fallacies of the government, whose corruption has led his people to suffer from a lack of basic amenities. He knows that if war breaks out, it would plunge the people further into despair.

This is why, when he discovers that Meera and her people are trying to stir up war in the region, which Pakistan would definitely get roped into, he realises that it is essential to stop Meera’s plan at any cost. He presents the problem to his superior and asks him to have her red-listed. However, the bureaucratic process would stretch on too long, and it takes too much effort to accomplish too little. Moreover, even if they wanted to do that, the country doesn’t have a penny to spare, which means that their hands are tied. Sameer, however, is a free agent, and no one is stopping him from doing what needs to be done. The man takes the hint and immediately starts working on a plan to stop Meera, which basically means he needs to kill her. Meanwhile, Meera and Rukma’s picture, taken by Tenzin for Stephen, is sent to the authorities, which blows Meera’s cover.

When Dwaraknath finds out about it, he warns her and tells her to go underground immediately. Meera leaves the plan on Rukma’s shoulders and leaves Myanmar to go to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Here, the plan is to stay in hiding for as long as it takes for the whole matter to blow off or for something more important and urgent to arise, so that the Indian authorities will be too busy to pay attention to her. In the end, she is seen settling into her hotel in Chiang Mai. Unbeknownst to her, Sameer has been keeping tabs on her, too. He knows she works for Dwaraknath, who wants to broker a deal with the Collective. Sameer cannot touch the Collective, who are too powerful, and he cannot harm Dwaraknath, either, who is a billionaire.

He can, however, cut off the middleman, the one who came up with the idea of war, the one who works behind the scenes to pave the path for Dwaraknath and the Collective’s deal. He also holds a grudge against her for going around him and using his operative, Rukma, to serve her own plots. With all of this, he has no reason to let her live, so he tracks her down to Chiang Mai, gets his sniper rifle, and kills her. We only hear a shot, but the show has a way of revealing acts of violence without showing the act itself. We hear explosions and gunshots, but we never see things blow up or people getting shot at. The same holds for the final scene as well, where Sameer fires the shot, most likely killing Meera.

Does the Arms Deal Happen? Does the War Happen?

All the violence and bloodshed that occur in the third season of ‘The Family Man’ can be traced back to one event: the arms deal that Dwaraknath wants brokered between the Indian government and the Collective. The deal will be a massive win for the Collective because once India starts buying weapons from them, it will make the neighbors, especially Pakistan, more eager to win the arms race, leading them to buy from the Collective as well. The tension between the two countries would also lead China to stockpile weapons, which in turn might influence other countries to cut a deal as well. However, all of this hinges on India’s desire to make the deal. Dwaraknath has been working with PM Basu’s aide, Sambit, to get her to agree to the agreement. Sambit agrees to help in return for the amount of money that he will receive for his services. All he has to do is nudge the PM in the right direction.

To make things easier, Dwaraknath buys a news channel and then uses it to attack the PM’s image in an attempt to force her into a corner. The truth is that a state of war in the region would expedite the process, which has been on the back burner for a year or so, as the PM is more focused on trying to bring peace to the northeastern states in the country. In the end, Dwaraknath’s plan works, and the PM decides to go full war mode to bring home Vikram and his team, who are held prisoners in Myanmar, following the failed operation. Attacking Myanmar would mean bringing China into the mix, and Pakistan would want to take advantage of the situation as well. Therefore, India must have a comprehensive arsenal to meet enemy forces on all fronts, which necessitates the acquisition of arms. This is where the deal with the Collective comes into play. Eventually, she meets Dwaraknath and confirms that they will be moving forward with the agreement. The process has begun, but it hasn’t yet been completed.

By the end, the soldiers are free and across the border, which means the news will reach the PM soon. This will give her pause, as there is no reason to attack the neighboring country, which means that she will retract her war plan. Srikant’s actions may also have changed Stephen’s mind. At the beginning of the season, he was against working with the government, even though it was his grandfather who tried to bring everyone together. Now, however, he has worked closely with Srikant, and while he won’t blindly trust the government, he will be more amenable to Srikant. The TASC agent may convince him to come to the table, and that could put Project Sahakar back on the table. With that, the PM would once again shift her focus from the arms deal to Project Sahakar, whose aim is to bring lasting peace in the region. If things work out in time, there is still a chance for the war situation to be diffused and for the Collective and Dwaraknath to go empty-handed while PM Basu focuses on her passion project.

Read More: Is Kulkarni Dead? Did Dalip Tahil Leave The Family Man?