Goa Police inspector Pedro has been relegated to the cybercrime department even though he neither knows nor cares about what a “cloud” could also mean. Pedro (Arshad Warsi) points out that he is a boots-on-the-ground type, a man of action who prefers a pistol over a mouse.
This grumbling Luddite teams up with the talented young hacker Pritam (Vir Hirani) to solve crimes that require phone tracing, password cracking and the like. The orphaned Pritam lives with his grandfather (Vinod Nagpal), making the gruff Pedro both a crime-solving buddy and something of a family member.
The unlikely pair face their biggest challenge when the minister Sardesai’s son is kidnapped – the same minister (Satyadeep Mishra) who had punished Pedro with the cyber cell posting. The kidnapper Martin (Vikrant Massey) is using the internet to weave a web of misdirection around Sardesai, his wife Shraddha (Shruti Marathe) and the investigators.
The JioHotstar show Pritam and Pedro is based on cyber-consultant Amit Dubey’s books Hidden Files and Return of the Trojan Horse. Avinash Arun Dhaware directs a screenplay by Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and Suyash Trivedi.
Pritam and Pedro examines a cybercrime that used to be a major source of worry before digital arrests took over the conversation. The show too is old-fashioned in its pacing and staging, with the stakes being low-key despite all appearances to the contrary.
While Pedro, Pritam and Martin are serious players, some of the characters who surround them verge on the buffoonish. The cops who assist Pritam are perkier, with Jayant Gadekar’s constable especially entertaining in a sequence that revolves around singing skills.
The most compelling aspect of the six-episode series is the friendship between the internet-innocent cop and the hacking whiz kid. The road to redemption for these men is paved with good humour and simple emotions.
Both have troubled back stories that do not intrude too much into the clear fun that Arshad Warsi and Vir Hirani are having at collaborating with, and playing off, each other.
Vir Hirani makes an assured and noteworthy acting debut, marred only by stilted dialogue delivery. Arshad Warsi is a reliable scene-stealer, playing befuddled inspector, harried husband to Stacey (Mona Singh) and reluctant ally to Pritam with deceptive ease. Warsi has mastered the art of leading from the front while pretending to bring up the rear – a skill that he shares with Pedro.
Other actors fall by the wayside as the P&P partnership navigates Martin’s deviousness. Vikrant Massey is unusually overwrought. Mona Singh is reduced to a special appearance. Boman Irani, Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Dutt appear in cameos.
The Goa setting is barely convincing, just as the crime that seals the bond between Pedro and Pritam is a distraction for something else. Fortunately, the series is tight enough to wrap up its themes and position itself for a second season of crime-solving that needs brawn, brains and a big heart.
