Family Man Season 3 Shooting Locations in the Northeast

Ok, here is something that I was compelled to write. The third season of Amazon Prime’s Family Man is here, and the storyline is primarily set around various parts of Northeast India. Now, I saw a couple of posts in the mainstream media on the same topic. They rank at the top and they have written them very confidently… but without any substance. They have just mentioned the states and filled the rest of the page with cast and crew details. So, I am actually trying to list out the locations.

Also, just for the record, I found Season 3 underwhelming. I feel like writing a long post about my issues with it too, but this is not a movie/OTT blog.

Family Man Season 3 Shooting Locations

Kisama Heritage Village

The series opens with a fictional festival that is clearly modelled after the Hornbill Festival. Hornbill has a permanent venue, i.e. Kisama Heritage Village near Kohima. These scenes have definitely been shot there. For those who do not know, it is located just a few KMs out of Kohima. It is a newly developed “village” that draws its name from two real villages nearby, namely Kigwema and Phesama. This has a permanent venue where the festival is organised, along with some other attractions like a small WWII museum, which stores weapons and other items from the battle of Nagaland during WWII. (In case you did not know, this region saw huge action during the last phase of the war as the Japanese forces reached the eastern frontiers of British India. You may want to check my post about WWII sites in NE)

Wakka

This is a more interesting one. It appears for a split second on the screen and if you have ever been there, it is impossible not to spot. What is interesting is that the usually helpful X-Ray of Amazon Prime does not mention it and only mentions Khonoma, which appears after this scene.

It is one of the most unique villages you will ever see, with houses built from the base to the top of the village. It takes sort of a hike to reach the top, from where you can see one of the best views. It is a village of Wancho people, who are rlated to the Konyaks in the neighbouring Mon district of Nagaland.

Anyway, the good news is that I saw it in 2023, and you can read the whole post on Wakka here.

Khonoma

The initial scenes of Jaideep Ahlawat are shot in Khonoma, also known as the Green Village because of its pioneering conservation efforts, including a complete ban on hunting and logging. It is not far from Kohima and while visiting the Hornbill Festival a few years ago, I also took a detour to it. The road from here goes further to another village called Dzuleke, which is also mentioned.

Moreh

Manoj Bajpayee and Vijay Sethupathi characters first meet in Moreh, the border town in Manipur. Here, you can also cross over for a bit to the other side in Myanmar. While tourists regularly visit it, the recent incidents in Manipur may have affected the flow. As mentioned in the series, this place also has a South Indian diaspora who arrived here during colonial times for trade.

While this place has eluded me so far, I requested and received some images from A Soul Window blog.

Others

Apart from these, there must have been some other locations that I have not yet been able to figure out. Some of them are probably generic locations along the road and a few scenes have probably been shot in the villages just outside Kohima. I saw Jakhama and Jotsoma mentioned at places but I can’t verify it.

Anyway, if you are aware of more locations, let me know in the comments. I will add to the list.