Rajkumar Hirani and Arshad Warsi Talk Nostalgia and Creative Synergy Ahead of Pritam And Pedro Reunion!

Decades After Circuit, Rajkumar Hirani Celebrates Arshad Warsi’s Genius While Arshad Reflects on a Lifelong Dynamic Built on Mutual Trust Rajkumar Hirani is all set to make his streaming debut with #PritamandPedro, a crime-comedy series that also marks the acting debut of his son, Vir Hirani, and stars Vikrant Massey. The project is special for another reason as well; it reunites the acclaimed filmmaker with Arshad Warsi, more than two decades after they first collaborated on the iconic Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Their creative partnership began on the sets of Rajkumar Hirani’s directorial debut, where the filmmaker quickly discovered Arshad Warsi’s unconventional approach to acting.

Recalling their very first day of shooting together, Rajkumar Hirani shares, “We were doing the first scene, and I realised Arshad was not speaking from the script.” The actor was delivering his lines in a different order, adding his own touches and improvising throughout the scene. Initially taken aback, Hirani asked him to stick to the script. “He complied, but the second take was not as good as the first one. I discovered then that Arshad has a unique process.”

Now, over 20 years later, the duo has reunited for Pritam and Pedro, where Warsi takes on a completely different avatar, playing a cop in what promises to be another entertaining collaboration with Rajkumar Hirani.

Reflecting on their long-standing friendship and working together again in Pritam And Pedro, Arshad Warsi said, “There are some people who leave a big impact on your life, and Mr. Hirani has done that for me big time. Our friendship was always there and we kept in touch. I strongly believe that for any collaboration, a project should come together organically. So when he called me for this, I was really delighted.”

Pritam and Pedro mark Rajkumar Hirani’s foray into the world of cybercrime, inspired by real-life cases shared by investigator and national security expert Amit Dubey. Speaking about the idea behind the series, Hirani said, “Typically, in movies, we see someone sitting at a computer pressing zeroes and ones. Instead, Dubey was telling me exactly how cybercrime is done and how it’s solved. There is one story, for instance, about an ATM being hacked and stolen that fascinated me, and we have included it in the series.”

The series also reunites Hirani with Arshad Warsi, who said that while playing Pedro came naturally, Hirani’s writing left little room for his trademark improvisations. Recalling the experience, Arshad Warsi said, “The first take was in my style. But from the second take, I did not have to improvise because Raju had already predicted and written what I would say!”

Looking back at the Munna Bhai films, Arshad Warsi recalled how he almost won a National Award for Lage Raho Munna Bhai. “During Lage Raho (2006), word got out that the Best Supporting Actor award would go to someone from this film. So everybody assumed it’s me. I started getting congratulatory messages from the industry. It later transpired that the award went to Dilip Prabhavalkar, who played Mahatma Gandhi in the film. I said to myself, fair enough, I can’t beat Gandhiji!”

Rajkumar Hirani also credited Arshad Warsi’s improvisations for some of Circuit’s most memorable moments. Recalling the famous Chinese tourist scene, he said, “We had mapped out much of the scene, with Circuit spotting the tourist, knocking him out cold, and taking his body to Munna for his dissection class. But I remember Arshad added a line, calling the tourist, ‘Aey, hakka noodles’. From there on, we decided that every time he meets a new character, he will give them a nickname. That’s why when he meets a trainee doctor he calls him ‘dispensary’ and so forth.”

Reflecting on their creative chemistry, Arshad Warsi said, “You can only improvise at this level when you have a director who gets it. If you suggest a line to Raju, he will edit the entire scene in his mind to ascertain if it works.” Looking back at the film’s humour, Arshad Warsi said, “It was a whole different brand of comedy. It was intelligent humour that we were doing. It wasn’t buffoonery.”

Rajkumar Hirani also fondly remembered one of Circuit’s most emotional scenes, saying, “The way Arshad says his line, ‘Mumbai has a lot of pollution… I cannot see my maa.’ It was really beautiful.”

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Avinash Arun, the series is created and produced by Rajkumar Hirani, marking his first step into the streaming space. Pritam and Pedro will stream from 3rd July, only on JioHotstar.

By Keerti Kadam