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He’s the old-school cop who is unfamiliar with the digital world: Pedro (Arshad Warsi) would rather use his digits (parts of his hands) to beat up and the conventional part of his brain (logical deduction) to solve crime and arrest criminals. He has a wife (Mona Singh) who is fed up of his work schedules giving her little time with him. And both are living with the trauma of losing their son to suicide.
Pritam (Vir Hirani) is the dude, the man who can use the latest technology—on smartphone and laptop—for everything in life, And yet, destiny has made him a vacuum cleaner salesman. He has an old grandfather (Vinod Nagpal), who values his late wife’s songs, recorded on a small tape-recorder, which, however, is stolen.
And that’s how the two come in contact. Pritam comes to report the theft and to request the cops to find it, but the Goa police are now looking at an entire stolen ATM machine, complete with Rs. 2.8 million cash within it. They ask him how a small gadget worth Rs. 500 can be expected to compare with such a major theft. When Pritam persists as the precious recorder is his grandfather’s lifeline, the cops dump him in a cell.
But Pritam assures Pedro that he can solve the ATM robbery, if given a laptop, in minutes. And he does so. Impressed, Pedro drops him home. Soon, sports minister Dilip Sardesai (Satyadeep Mishra) calls the police as his wife Shraddha (Shruti Marathe) has reason to believe that her mobile phone has been stolen. Pedro deduces that the culprit is their son, Vini (Shreyansh Kaurav), but a request to “interrogate” the brat is refused. Soon, things go into a tailspin as what follows leads to Sardesai ordering that Pedro be removed from his position. He is now transferred to the Cyber Cell, which is as alien a world to him as a normal human being would find Antarctica! He thus has to involve Pritam again.
And soon Sardesai’s son is kidnapped, with a ransom demand. And a complex case comes up, which also involves Pritam’s past.
The story stretches imagination at many a point, as the digital domain is oversimplified to fit the story’s intention, but that is a Hirani hallmark, as in that department, even his best films (the Munna Bhai franchise and 3 Idiots) gave liberal doses of suspension of disbelief in classic Hirani-an mode. In fact, the director’s very leitmotif is to base his relatable dramas around such central cores.
As a series that is in essence a long film of a little over three hours, Pritam and Pedro follow exactly that process. Each principal character, other than the politician himself, has a backstory, including his wife. There is another coding expert, Martin (Vikrant Massey in a unique role) who is at loggerheads with Pritam, determined that he fails. Why is that? What is the secret behind Pritam’s visions of a suicide? And his anonymous summons to a specific room in a hospital? Is the tape-recorder finally located? How is the Pedro and his wife issue resolved?
For those who know Hirani’s methodology (which went sadly missing from his last outing, Dunkee), it is a no-brainer that everything will be right for all the good people in the end. In this case, the kidnapping will be cracked. The past repaired. The issues resolved. But the ‘howdunit’ part, so to speak, is what matters.
Hirani loves artistes he works with and vice-versa. Which is why we find Sanjay Dutt, Boman Irani and Mona Singh do as good as walk-on parts here. Capably, I must add, especially Irani. Arshad Warsi returns to Hirani’s ‘Circuit’ (pun naturally intended!) as the frazzled, hand-on cop who is anachronistic in many ways. He is outstanding in his mature underplay of a character who is usually hapless but has his own value system and determination.
Vir Hirani makes a very confident debut. His easy, respectful and assured yet often paradoxically unsure demeanor makes him relatable, and humanly so. This is not about his filmmaker dad presented him grandly but in a definitely watchable normal mode. And that is indeed welcome.
Vikrant Massey is a revelation as Martin. He comes in late but owns many a scene. Jayant Gadekar as Jayant, the order-following cop and Bharat Ganeshpure as the minister’s manager make a solid mark in their brief characters, especially with their expressions.
Shreyansh Kaurav as Vini is a charmer. Naina Sareen as Sherlyn, the cybercop, has a small role but makes an impression. Nachiket Purnapatre as the blackmailer is correctly gimmicky while Rajesh Sharma shines as the disgruntled cop, Carlos. Gaurav More as the ATM thief is amusing. But Satyadeep Mishra and Shruti Marathe are mechanical.
Avinash Arun directs dark or offbeat projects usually, and this is a refreshing change for him, because delving into the All Is Well school of Rajkumar Hirani must have been a challenge for a man whose resume includes Paatal Lok, Killa(Marathi) and even School of Lies. His cinematography here is astute, unshowy, scenic only when needed.
The technical side is skilled, but I would watch Pritam and Pedro, despite some rough edges in the second and third of six episodes, for its cleverly feel-good plot and the wonderfully designed culmination. And who knows? Just like the three movies that I mentioned above, I may even do a revisit soon.
Rating: ****
Jio Hotstar presents Rajkumar Hirani Films’ Pritam and Pedro Created and produced by: Rajkumar Hirani Directed by: Avinash Arun Dhaware Written by: Amit Dubey, Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Suyash Trivedi, Pranjal Saxena & Shashank Kunwar Music: Shantanu Moitra Starring: Arshad Warsi, Vikrant Massey, Vir Hirani, Boman Irani. Mona Singh, Jayant Gadekar, Satyadeep Mishra, Shruti Marathe, Rajesh Sharma, Mohit Chauhan, Shreyansh Kaurav, Nachiket Purnapatre, Bharat Ganeshpure, Naina Sareen, Ajay Jadhav, Apoorva Mehra, Gaurav More, Vinod Nagpal & others Sp. App.: Sanjay Dutt, Virender Sehwag, Harshika Kewalramani & others
