Between the sweethearts and seekers that he usually plays, Vikrant Massey makes time for uncomfortably grey characters who get under your skin. In the forthcoming series Pritam and Pedro, for instance, he plays a floppy-haired hacker who, in the show's trailer, cuts off a child's middle finger as a threat. Then he laughs. A sorta-comedy that delves into the world of contemporary cybercrime, the JioHotstar series is created by Rajkumar Hirani and stars Arshad Warsi and Vir Hirani as the protagonists. Their mission, we gather, is to track down Massey, who has kidnapped a politico's son and is demanding millions in ransom. The show is directed by Avinash Arun (Paatal Lok, Three of Us) and premieres on the platform on July 3.
At the Pritam and Pedro promotions earlier this month in Mumbai, The Hollywood Reporter India caught up with Massey, whose career was turbocharged by a gentle yet moving performance in 12th Fail (2023), winning him a National Award for Best Actor In A Leading Role. Here, the actor talks about teaming with Hirani, the overabundance of crime shows in Indian streaming and the 'double-edged sword' of algorithmic storytelling. Excerpts...
Rajkumar Hirani has this skill of creating immersive yet relatable cinematic worlds. How was it inhabiting one?
We fondly call it the Hirani-verse. The worlds that he creates and the way he tells his stories, they're simple on the surface. But there's something in them that you take with you for the rest of your life. Like everyone else, I'm a huge fan of his work. He has also been instrumental in a lot of things I have today.
I remember one of his assistants made a short film called Gadhedo, in which I acted. We were just a bunch of boys who travelled to Rajasthan and shot it. Raju sir saw it he and reached out to me. And since then we have known each other. 12th Fail also happened because of his recommendation. He put my name forward to Vidhu Vinod Chopra. So I was clear that it'll be an honour for me to do anything associated with him, even if it's for a scene or two.
You played a repulsively evil character in 'Sector 36'. Tell me about playing a hacker and a cybercriminal in 'Pritam and Pedro.'
Of course, this is a character I've never played before. And I'm also not a very tech-savvy guy, to be honest. I can only send emails and receive and send texts on WhatsApp. That's it. So I had to get my basics right. I didn't have to do any training but there were people on set to guide me and of course we'd done enough research. We had cyber security expert Amit Dubey on the set guiding us as to how it goes.
What’s so fascinating about this reality is that we have integrated the smartphone in our daily lives to such an extent that we are absolutely unaware of the digital footprint that we leave behind. I've been cyber-attacked a couple of times. My social media handle has been hacked. My wife's bank account has been hacked. All of this unfortunately has become such a part of our lives now.
What do you feel about the impact of digital addiction on children and younger folk?
This is a very important part of our story as well—the impact of the internet and social media on the psychology of kids. Today, we’re even hearing about governments banning social media for children below the age of 16. So the repercussions are very, very serious, and you’ll see a bit of that in our show as well.
What is the impact of online gaming? What is the impact of having a device in your hand that is, in many ways, a necessity because parents want a sense of security? They want to know where their kids are but what is the collateral damage happening to those young minds? It’s a conversation we need to have in a public forum.
Hopefully, through our show—through humour, brotherhood and camaraderie—we’re also able to say something much deeper.
We are halfway through the year and there has already been a surplus of crime shows. It's an impossibly saturated space at the moment.
You may say it’s saturated, but the demand for this particular genre is phenomenal. The data is there for all of us to see. The reason all the platforms are making shows and movies specifically in this genre is because there is tremendous demand. Whether it’s South Korea, India or the rest of South Asia, there is massive consumption of this kind of content.
I understand why you feel it’s saturated—there’s a problem of plenty—but the consumption is still there. It’s a catch-22 situation. Having said that, Pritam and Pedro is really far from the conventional crime dramas or thrillers you see.
All we hear about streaming platforms across the board is that they are crunching consumer data and making algorithm-driven content. This, in turn, is attributed for the downfall of originality and innovation.
The corporatisation of storytelling is probably what you’re referring to, to put it simply. But I think that’s always been there. As I briefly mentioned earlier, the reason everyone’s making crime dramas and thrillers is because people are watching them. At the end of the day, it’s a business.
In fact, the data says nearly 70% of our consumption happens on mobile. We don’t even watch as much on our big screens or laptop screens anymore. This will naturally affect how shows are written, paced, edited and sound-mixed. Ultimately, it’s the audience’s decision what they want to watch. And it’s an expensive business.
The studios backing these stories use data to guide filmmakers in making their stories widely accessible. It may not suit your taste, but you always have the option to not watch it. And the same data also suggests there are many kinds of stories that people want to watch. It’s a double-edged sword.
What is your all-time favourite scene or line from a Rajkumar Hirani film?
I’ve told this to Raju many times. That line from 3 Idiots—don’t chase success, chase excellence—has really inspired me in life. It has become my life mantra. I try to live by it as much as I can.
Three of his films—both the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots—are taught in film schools, especially in scriptwriting courses. If you go to Whistling Woods, for instance, all three films are part of the syllabi for screenwriting and direction. That’s how important these films are.
Further, ‘all is well’ is something of a national catchphrase. If you noticed, I paid a small homage to it in 12th Fail. In one scene, when I come back to the room and sit down, she (Medha Shankr's character) asks me how I’m feeling. I lightly touch my chest to indicate, ‘I’m feeling good. All is well'.