Every once in a while Rajkumar Hirani tends to amaze us with his wizardry. No, it is not with a movie this time but he has chosen a new medium for the surprise and tis the idiot box. For the first time he has conceived a six episodic OTT series – Pritam and Pedro which is now streaming on Jiostar.
Though not directed by him he does have two major contributions to it. One, he the producer/presenter and two – he unleashes his son Vir for the first time and he has chosen the small screen to do so. Vir is an alumnus of the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. He plays the crucial eponymous character of Pritam in the title, the ethical hacker, to Arshad Warsi’s Pedro the cop.
This cop drama is engaging
This six episode web show about a kidnapping which turns into a chase to identify the perpetrators with a plot about suicide and subsequently revenge then everything falls in place in one perfect stroke and all is well. The series is highly engaging, many might have binge watched it, it is precise and the episodes are of concise run length that help take the narrative forward and keep one interested.
As it is a cop drama we have an upright but unlucky cop Pedro, living a dysfunctional family life which keeps his interest rooted either in police work or alcohol. He is called by his superiors to do inane things like find a minister’s wife’s stolen mobile and when he goofs he is given a punishment posting. However things get spiced-up when he has an interaction with Pritam at his police station. The cop elicits his help to solve a local crime and then again in the case of kidnapped son of the same minister, which falls into his lap unexpectedly. Things take numerous turns in between including coming face to face with another hacker working on the other side. And some mushy moments of course. Anything else said will be a spoiler.
Vir Hirani makes an impressive debut
All characters have acted well and as per the script’s requirements, however Arshad, Vir and Vikrant Massey as the other hacker stand out. Arshad is the binding glue in the screenplay and Vikrant shows that he can be menacing as the antagonist. Well done Vir!! throughout he has been the playmaker, has given a confident and super performance. He will have a sizable female fan following. He just needs to work a bit on the vocals.
This earnest effort deserves a 3.5 stars for acting, script, direction and screenplay.
– Review by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of Pritam and Pedro:
Arshad Warsi as Pedro Gonsalves
Vir Hirani as Pritam Parker/Kabir Sahani
Vikrant Massey as Martin Fonseca
Mona Singh as Stacey Gonsalves
Satyadeep Mishra as Sports Minister Dileep N. Sardesai
Shruti Marathe as Shraddha Sardesai
Rajesh Sharma as Sub Inspector Carlos Lobo
Mohit Chauhan as DIG Arvind Rao
Shreyansh Kaurav as Vini Sardesai
Nachiket Purnapatre as Hari Nair; Blackmailer
Bharat Ganeshpure as Manager Saathe
Naina Sareen as Sherlyn
Jayant Gadekar as Jayant Rege
Ajay Madhok as Raj Taneja
Ajay Jadhav as Bhalekar
Sandeep Jhawar as Nitin Menon
Apoorva Mehra as Nina Joseph Fonseca
Gaurav More as ATM Theif Dulha
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Credits of Pritam and Pedro:
Production company – Rajkumar Hirani Films
Produced by Rajkumar Hirani
Directed by Avinash Arun
Created by Rajkumar Hirani
Executive producer – Sanjiv Kishinchandani
Written by Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Suyash Trivedi
Dialogues – Pranjal Saxena, Shashank Kunwar, Rajkumar Hirani
Editor – Rajkumar Hirani
Cinematography – Avinash Arun
Theme music composer – Vishal Khurana K
Songs – Shantanu Moitra
Score: Sanjay Wandrekar
No. of episodes 6
Running time 32–37 minutes
Released on Jio Hotstar
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