Arshad Warsi and debutant Vir Hirani shine in this light-hearted buddy-cop drama set in Goa, now streaming on JioHotstar
There’s a moment early in Pritam and Pedro that sets the tone perfectly. Pritam (Vir Hirani) is hunched over a borrowed laptop in a police station, quietly tracking down the people who stole an ATM the previous night. Sitting nearby, Pedro (Arshad Warsi) watches him, then says, “To catch a criminal, you don’t go to a website. You go to the crime site.” He says it with complete conviction, even as the boy in front of him does exactly the opposite and finds the thieves anyway. That one moment tells you everything about what to expect from the show.
The setup
Pritam and Pedro begins with four people dressed in hijabs looting an ATM in the middle of the night. It’s ridiculous and funny, and that feeling stays with you through the entire show. The next morning, Pritam walks into a police station with his grandfather (Vinod Nagpal) to report a stolen radio. Not a car. Not a phone. A radio. The cops ignore him. He pushes a little too hard and gets locked up for it.
That’s where he meets Pedro, a crime branch officer who’s arrived at the same station about the ATM theft. Pritam, speaking from behind bars, offers him a simple deal — get him a laptop, give him 15 minutes, and he’ll find the ATM. He finds it in ten minutes.
The odd couple
Pedro is the kind of cop who has been doing things his way his entire career. He doesn’t trust technology, doesn’t understand it and frankly doesn’t want to. When he lands in the cyber cell as a punishment posting after an investigation goes wrong, he’s completely out of his depth. The man doesn’t know why a keyboard starts with Q instead of A. This is genuinely, repeatedly funny.
Pritam, on the other hand, is 20-something, quiet, and can do things on a laptop that most people can’t explain. He’s also carrying something difficult in his personal life, which the show lets you discover gradually.
The two get properly thrown together when the same minister who punished Pedro has his son kidnapped. Pedro needs Pritam’s help and Pritam readily agrees.
What makes their pairing so watchable is that neither of them is played for laughs at the other’s expense. Pedro isn’t a buffoon — he’s a smart, experienced cop who simply doesn’t speak this world’s language. Pritam isn’t a smug genius — he’s a young man who happens to be very good at one thing. The humour comes from the gap between them and it never gets mean.
The performances
This is Arshad Warsi at his easy, effortless best. Pedro could have become a one-joke character — older cop, doesn’t understand technology, gets confused by passwords. But Warsi gives him weight. You believe Pedro is a cop. You feel his frustration at being sidelined. And when he’s funny, it lands because he’s never trying to be.
Vir Hirani is making his acting debut here, and you wouldn’t know it. He keeps things simple, never tries too hard, and somehow manages to hold his ground next to Arshad Warsi in every scene.
Vikrant Massey is a welcome surprise as the antagonist. Best known for playing earnest, relatable men, the actor steps into darker territory with ease. His cybercriminal is cold, calculating and menacing, without resorting to loud theatrics.
Mona Singh plays Pedro’s wife Stacey, and the two of them carry the sadness of a marriage strained by the loss of a child. Boman Irani turns up briefly and makes you wish he’d been given more.
The DNA
Avinash Arun, who directed Paatal Lok, is in the director’s chair here, but this is very clearly a Rajkumar Hirani production in its DNA. The Goa backdrop is used well without turning into a tourism reel. The cyber crime angle is kept simple. You never need a tech background to follow what’s happening. The show explains what it needs to and moves on.
Most importantly, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The crime is real, the kidnapping has stakes, but the mood never turns grim. That balance is harder to pull off than it looks.
The verdict
If you want a proper thriller with twists that keep you guessing and a pace that won’t let you breathe, look elsewhere this week. Pritam and Pedro is easy-going. It’s the kind of show you binge-watch on a Sunday when you want to be entertained without being stressed. In a week when Alpha is promising high-octane action and Baby Do Die Do a pulpy revenge thriller, this one can be enjoyed from the comfort of your home. The show that sneaks up on you and leaves you smiling
