Suchin Mehrotra reviews Pritam and Pedro, Rajkumar Hirani's streaming debut for JioHotstar, for The Hollywood Reporter India. Created, co-written and produced by Rajkumar alongside writers Abhijat Joshi and Suyash Trivedi, and directed and shot by Avinash Arun, the six-episode series follows Goa-based crime branch Inspector Pedro (Arshad Warsi), who lands a punishment posting in the cyber crime division after rubbing a local minister the wrong way. There, the technologically inept old-school cop teams up with Pritam (Vir Hirani, making his acting debut), a mild-mannered vacuum salesman and cyber genius, to crack a child kidnapping case orchestrated by a sociopathic hacker named Martin (Vikrant Massey). Suchin sees an interesting metaness in the premise — an "old school" cop navigating new-age crime mirroring theatrical filmmakers attempting the longform medium — but finds the series a stunningly dull, bizarrely structured, tonally confused dud on arrival, with none of the token Raju Hirani warmth, wit and whimsy he remains a fan of.
Suchin argues the buddy cop dynamic never crackles, with both leads written as flaccid, colourless characters — lifeless enough to make even Arshad Warsi unexciting to watch — while Vir struggles to register with odd, over-rehearsed diction. He finds the show a tonal mess, asking audiences to laugh at low-hanging tech jokes while its narrative features severed fingers, hackers manipulating children into suicide, and shrill melodrama so terribly staged it becomes unintentionally funny. He also calls out the simplistic, juvenile investigation writing that treats its audience like eight-year-olds, and implores these storytellers to leave longform alone and stick to their strengths on the big screen. His THR Bottom Line is who called it Pritam And Pedro and not Tonally Confused And Eager To Please. Pritam and Pedro is now streaming on JioHotstar.
#PritamAndPedro #PritamAndPedroReview #THRIndia