Cast: Arshad Warsi, Vir Hirani, and others
Creator: Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Avinash Arun
Streaming On: JioHotstar
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 6 episodes of 30 minutes each
“Idhar naa ek ATM chori ho gaya. Atthawis lakh the usme. Main kisko dhoondhne mein time lagaaun? 500 rupaye ka Taperecorder ki ATM? Police ka kaam dhoondhna hai, tum dono dhoondho naa bete! Ghar jaao naa uncle, 1000 rupaye ka tel kharch karke 500 rupaye ka FIR likhne aa gaye. To minimum kitne ka chori hona chahiye FIR likhne ke liye? Aap na yahan ek board laga dijiye!” The scene has Rajkumar Hirani written all over! This is how his latest web series, Pritam and Pedro, streaming on JioHotstar, begins!
Pritam and Pedro Review: What’s It About:
The show takes us to North Goa, where crime branch cop Pedro (Arshad Warsi) is restless. Say why? Because after a major goof-up, he is shifted from the Crime Branch to the Cyber Cell as a punishment posting. He understands this department only as much as an early man knew how to wear clothes! Pedro is a total virgin when it comes to the internet – a man who probably thinks an email needs a physical stamp.
Pedro bumps into Pritam Parkar (Vir Hirani), a young coding prodigy who gets thrown into jail for misbehaving with a cop over his grandfather’s missing cassette recorder. However, when the sports minister’s (Satyadeep Misra) son goes missing in a high-profile case, Pedro realizes his ticket back to the glorious Crime Branch lies in solving this digital puzzle.
Pedro collaborates with Pritam with a barter deal; the cyber tech boy would crack the case, and Pedro would find the tape recorder! As they move to crack the case, they bust open a dangerous cyber conspiracy with Vikrant Massey standing in the middle of the controversy as its mastermind!
Pritam and Pedro Review: What Works:
When you see the names Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi on the credits roll, you naturally expect a narrative that makes you laugh out loud before punching you straight in the emotional gut. However, Pritam & Pedro feel like a script pulled straight out of the last decade. The core ideology of the show aggressively shouts: Technology is bad!
The writing of Pritam and Pedro is deeply trapped in the era that has passed! It deals with too many issues in too few episodes, ranging from a kidnapped child to the Blue Whale challenge to deepfakes and extramarital affairs, which are blamed entirely on the internet. The show has typical Hirani writing characters deliver heavily preached dialogues as they deal with emotional issues big time!
Pritam and Pedro Review: Star Performance:
Arshad Warsi is the saving grace here. Playing the technologically challenged cop, Pedro, he brings his signature effortless timing and ironic humor to the table. Even when the dialogues lean into heavy melodrama, Arshad does not let the ship sink! Making his digital debut is Rajkumar Hirani’s son Vir Hirani, who puts up a highly sincere and confident front.
He doesn’t look like a newcomer who is nervous.
Vikrant Massey enters late into the narrative but rules as the good antagonist! Meanwhile, Mona Singh, playing Pedro’s wife, is phenomenal in her limited screen time. Though she almost ghosts the script in the middle of the show!
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Pritam and Pedro Review: What Doesn’t Work:
The humor of Pritam and Pedro is too theatrical. The jokes demand claps and wows! However, on an OTT platform, in a two-screen world, it becomes stale too soon! Director Avinash Arun Dhaware, who gave us the brilliant Paatal Lok, tries his best to make it more modern, but it gets weighed down by Hirani’s preachy writing!
Pritam and Pedro Review: Last Words:
Pritam and Pedro have their heart in the right place, but it does not survive today’s brutal Gen-Z issues, which make this Blue Whale challenge seem petty! The show still works because it has been long enough that something ended as the Happily Ever After!
3 stars.
For more reviews of shows on OTT, stay tuned to Koimoi.
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