Combating crime | Rajkumar Hirani's 'Pritam and Pedro'

When popular filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani calls a director hoping he will direct his only child’s on-screen debut, it’s a clear sign your work has made an impression on him. The said director, Avinash Arun (Killa, Paatal Lok), also a noted cinematographer, was “surprised” that his dream to shoot for Hirani was finally coming true. “It’s difficult for a filmmaker to have his own form, but he has it,” says Arun of the writer-director of beloved blockbusters 3 Idiots and PK. “His humour comes from deep empathy; it doesn’t demean anyone or make someone seem smarterthat’s why it connects with the heart.”

For Hirani, it was simply handing over his material to “somebody who can understand it” and a filmmaker he could “vibe with”. In Arun, he found the right fit. The result of their first collaboration is Hotstar Specials’ Pritam and Pedro, which features Vir Hirani and Arshad Warsi in the titular parts.

Vir wasn’t a sure thing while the show was being written, says Hirani. A student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the younger Hirani was deemed too young for the part of a cyber expert. But as the show took shape, Vir expressed an interest, albeit not to his father directly. “Tum log idhar udhar dhoondh rahe ho, ghar mein actor baitha hua hai [You are looking here and there, when there’s an actor right here],” he told one of the producers, in a line that could easily belong in a Hirani film.

But more than his father, Vir had to make an impression on the director, which he did with his performance on stage in the play Letters to Suresh and a passion for cinema. “He was writing for himself, developing his own script,” says Arun. “He started picking up scenes and auditioning and showed them to me.”

Like many Hirani works, the show centres on loveable misfits, one a police officer on the verge of retirement, another a Gen Z hacker with personal stakes. Hirani calls Pritam and Pedro an investigative cybercrime thriller, one sprinkled with his trademark humour that offers some reflection on the society we inhabit. Already an ace at writing features, for Hirani, the show offered an opportunity to adapt his skills to a new format. “You have the time to say more things, have multiple tracksthe long format requires dhamakas every few minutes,” he says. Amidst the drama, there’s a message too, one conveyed in a fun manner.