iWorld
The Family Man all set for second innings on Amazon Prime Video
NEW DELHI: Amazon Prime Video’s acclaimed series The Family Man season 2 is all set to premiere on 12 February, the showrunners announced in a brief clip. Starring Manoj Bajpai, Samantha Akkineni and others, the new season promises to offer up another gripping mystery for the audience’s viewing pleasure.
The Family Man season one released in September 2019 and was a runaway hit. The show was applauded for its direction, performances and writing. It is an edgy, action-drama series, which tells the story of a middle-class man, Srikant Tiwari, who works for a special cell of the National Investigation Agency. The series explores Srikant's tight-rope walk as he juggles his secretive, low paying, high-pressure, high-stakes job, and being a husband and father. This is as much a satirical take on the geopolitics of the region as it is the story of a middle-class guy who is a world-class spy.
This time Srikant, while struggling to balance his personal and professional life, will be pitted against a new nemesis, Raji played by Samantha Akkineni. Replete with twists and turns, the upcoming season will see Srikant embarking on a new mission as ‘This Time, No One is Safe’.
Amazon Prime Video head of India Originals Aparna Purohit said, “The Family Man had set a new benchmark in the spy thriller genre in India. Appreciated by fans and critics alike for its compelling storyline and phenomenal performances, the show became a part of our popular culture. The fact that the fans had successfully managed to decode the show’s launch date by reading ‘2021’ as ‘1202’ in reverse when we recently unveiled the teaser poster is a testament to the show’s unparalleled fandom.”
Raj and DK said, “We are thrilled and excited to return to the world of The Family Man. The response to the first season was overwhelming and it struck a real chord with the viewers. And we are hopeful that we can continue to tell a story which is as compelling and engaging as the first season. The one question we were asked for the last 16 months is – when is season 2 coming. Our team has worked from home through the pandemic and amidst all the constraints to complete the season. We wish to thank everyone involved in our show. And our fans can be sure that we have plenty of surprises in store for the new season of The Family Man.”
The other members of the cast include Priyamani, Sharib Hashmi, Seema Biswas, Darshan Kumar, Sharad Kelkar, Sunny Hinduja, Shreya Dhanwantary, Shahab Ali, Vedant Sinha, and Mahek Thakur.
Produced by D2R Films, the much-awaited show will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in over 240 countries and territories.
iWorld
Meta plans 8,000 layoffs in new AI-led restructuring wave
First phase from May 20 may cut 10 per cent workforce amid AI pivot.
MUMBAI: At Meta, the future may be artificial but the cuts are very real. The social media giant is reportedly preparing a fresh round of layoffs, with an initial wave expected to impact around 8,000 employees as it doubles down on its artificial intelligence ambitions. According to a Reuters report, the first phase of job cuts is slated to begin on May 20, targeting roughly 10 per cent of Meta’s global workforce. With nearly 79,000 employees on its rolls as of December 31, the move marks one of the company’s most significant workforce reductions in recent years.
And this may only be the beginning. Sources indicate that additional layoffs are being planned for the second half of the year, although the scale and timing remain fluid, likely to be shaped by how Meta’s AI capabilities evolve in the coming months. Earlier reports had suggested that total cuts in 2026 could reach 20 per cent or more of its workforce.
The restructuring comes as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg continues to steer the company towards an AI-first operating model, committing hundreds of billions of dollars to the transition. Internally, this shift is already visible: teams within Reality Labs have been reorganised, engineers have been moved into a newly formed Applied AI unit, and a Meta Small Business division has been created to align with broader structural changes.
The trend is hardly isolated. Across the tech sector, companies are trimming headcount while investing aggressively in automation. Amazon, for instance, has reportedly cut around 30,000 corporate roles nearly 10 per cent of its white-collar workforce citing efficiency gains driven by AI. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows over 73,000 tech employees have already lost jobs this year, compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
For Meta, the move echoes its earlier “year of efficiency” in 2022–23, when about 21,000 roles were eliminated amid slowing growth and market pressures. This time, however, the backdrop is different. The company is financially stronger, generating over $200 billion in revenue and $60 billion in profit last year, with shares up 3.68 per cent year-to-date though still below last summer’s peak.
That contrast underlines the shift underway. These layoffs are less about survival and more about reinvention. As Meta restructures itself around AI from autonomous coding agents to advanced machine learning systems, the question is no longer whether the company will change, but how many roles will be left unchanged when it does.
