Pritam and Pedro Review: Rajkumar Hirani’s OTT Debut Misses the Mark in an Outdated Cybercrime Drama

Director: Avinash Arun Dhaware

Screenwriter: Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Suyash Trivedi

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Vir Hirani, Vikrant Massey, Mona Singh, Naina Sareen, Shruti Marathe, Satyadeep Misra

Platform: JioHotstar

Episode – 6

Rating – 1

Rajkumar Hirani's arrival on the streaming platform should have been an exciting moment. After decades of delivering some of Hindi cinema's most beloved films, expectations were naturally high for Pritam and Pedro. However, what arrives on screen feels surprisingly dated, confused, and lacking the emotional precision that once defined Hirani's storytelling. Reports of creative disagreements and delays during development suddenly make a lot more sense after watching the finished product, because the series often feels like an unfinished idea stretched into six episodes rather than a fully realized vision.

The story revolves around Pritam, a young tech-savvy man who unexpectedly becomes an asset to Goa Police officer Pedro after demonstrating his cyber skills. On paper, the premise offers enormous potential to explore modern cybercrime, online identity, digital fraud, artificial intelligence, and generational differences. Instead, the series repeatedly settles for simplistic jokes about older people struggling with technology while portraying basic internet knowledge as extraordinary brilliance. Rather than creating tension through intelligent investigation, the writing chooses convenience over credibility.

One of the biggest disappointments is how cybercrime itself is presented. Today's digital crimes are layered, psychologically complex, and constantly evolving, yet Pritam and Pedro treats technology as a villain instead of a tool. Nearly every conflict is blamed on social media, smartphones, hackers, or the internet, reducing important conversations into simplistic moral lessons. Instead of asking difficult questions about privacy, surveillance, misinformation, and online manipulation, the series repeatedly falls back on the message that technology is responsible for everything wrong in society.

Rajkumar Hirani has always been known for balancing humour with heartfelt social commentary, but that signature formula struggles to find relevance here. Pedro is writtaen in the familiar Hirani mould of the lovable outsider whose emotional intelligence eventually wins everyone over. The difference is that earlier protagonists earned those moments through layered writing. Pedro, unfortunately, succeeds because everyone around him is deliberately written to appear less capable. The emotional speeches arrive exactly when expected, but they feel manufactured rather than earned, making the inspirational moments lose much of their impact.

The performances also fail to elevate the material. Arshad Warsi brings sincerity to Pedro, but the screenplay rarely allows him to move beyond repetitive reactions and predictable emotional beats. Vir Hirani, making his acting debut, shows confidence in front of the camera but lacks the natural screen presence and emotional depth required to carry a central role. Vikrant Massey arrives too late to leave a lasting impression, while Mona Singh remains criminally underutilized despite being one of the strongest performers in the cast. Several talented actors appear briefly without making any meaningful contribution to the overall narrative.

Visually, the series carries the polished production values expected from a Rajkumar Hirani project, and Avinash Arun's direction ensures that nothing looks amateurish. Yet the storytelling never develops urgency or suspense. The pacing remains uneven, the investigations lack genuine mystery, and many episodes feel longer than they actually are. Instead of building momentum, the narrative keeps repeating the same conflict between old-school policing and digital intelligence without offering fresh insights or meaningful evolution for either character.

Pritam and Pedro ultimately becomes a missed opportunity more than an outright failure. A story inspired by real cybercrime cases could have explored the digital age with intelligence, nuance, and relevance. Instead, it delivers familiar lectures, predictable emotional beats, and outdated assumptions about technology that feel disconnected from today's audience. Rajkumar Hirani's first OTT venture isn't without occasional warmth or sincerity, but neither quality is enough to compensate for weak writing and underdeveloped ideas. In an era where streaming audiences expect smarter crime dramas and sharper social commentary, Pritam and Pedro feels like a series trapped between two generations, unable to fully connect with either.