Inside ‘Pritam and Pedro’: Rajkumar Hirani and Arshad Warsi deconstruct comedy and its mechanics

While working on the episodic series, the filmmaker realised that the writing process had to be different from a feature film. “Working on a film involves compressing your writing. You can’t really open it up and focus on individual personal journeys of characters. All of that is possible while doing a show. It also requires you to build a lot of tension points, either in the middle of episodes or at the end, which we don’t need as much in a feature film,” says Rajkumar.

Arshad Warsi in ‘Pritam and Pedro’
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JioHotstar

The show also marks a reunion of Arshad and Rajkumar after a long time. The actor says that he got a call from the director for the show, and he couldn’t say no. “I liked the script and the entire idea behind it. We all identify with it especially with what’s happening in the world today with cybercrimes; these are crazy, difficult, dangerous times,” says Arshad.

Interestingly, the show is directed by Avinash Arun, known for helming gritty crime thrillers like Paatal Lok season 2 and School of Lies. The tone in Pritam and Pedro marks a shift for him, but Avinash says that he doesn’t look at stories through the lens of genre. “What excites me is the kind of relationship that a script builds with me,” he says while invoking the genius of AR Rahman to make his point. “He can make a qawwali, a Bhakti song, a classical song or even an African song. He does it all. So, I feel it is important to have that kind of empathy as an artiste where you can work with any form; to be like water and just flow,” Avinash opines.

Avinash Arun
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avinasharundhaware/Instagram

The same can be said for Arshad’s comic timing, which flows even in the most unusual moments, hitting the right notes and elevating the stature of seemingly ordinary scenes. His improvisations in the Munna Bhai films have aptly become meme templates along with his quirky reactions in the Dhamaal and Golmaal series. The actor says that comedy comes instinctively for him. Sharing one such moment which took place during the trailer launch of Dhamaal 4, Arshad recalls, “Induji (director) was sweetly saying, ‘I am extremely sorry, but Riteish (Deshmukh) is not in the country; otherwise, he would have been here’. Mere muh se nikla, ‘Jhoothe’ (I couldn’t stop myself from saying, ‘Liar’),” Arshad cracks up.

Rajkumar adds, “He finds humour in every situation. Never take him to a funeral.” Arshad is suddenly reminded of another anecdote. “I did this at a funeral. My wife was saying to someone, ‘I am so sorry for your loss’. Again, words just came out of me and I said, ‘Don’t feel sorry, it’s not your fault’,” says Arshad, sending the three on a flurry of laughter again.

But there’s also a technique to his comedy. “I give odd pauses in between dialogues sometimes,” says Arshad. “There are times when you say a punchline when it’s supposed to be said, but there are also times when I stretch that moment, and it sounds funny in a different way. You can elongate the pause or shorten it and the punch lands differently.”

Arshad recalls the simplicity of some dialogues from Sholay and how they packed a punch when delivered with panache. “Humour has to be simple for it to work. It has to be to the point and uncomplicated. That’s how I approach it too. There’s no rocket science to it,” he adds.

Even for Rajkumar, writing comedy is mostly following his instincts. “I wish there was a particular pathway to it, but there isn’t. If you’re writing something and it makes you laugh, you think it’’ working. Over the years, one discovers some things, but the magic of writing is that there is no fixed rule or grammar to it,” he says, while acknowledging the subjectivity around comedy.

Rajkumar Hirani
| Photo Credit:
Soubir Ghosh

“What you find funny, someone else may not. Or it also happens that it could collapse on the way. A film is like a train; you start with the script. But if the timing between the actors is not good, it starts derailing. By the end, it can become something else altogether. So, one has to just hope that what works for you will also work for others,” says Rajkumar.

Apart from writing and directing his films, Rajkumar has also been editing his own work. Even on Pritam and Pedro, he serves as the editor. He calls editing “another form of writing.” “The script is written, it is then shot, and it may get translated into visuals or not. Then the editor has to have an understanding of the script to know what it was trying to do. If it’s not succeeding in doing that, the editor has to step in. The entire meaning can change by deciding where to pause, when to cutaway, what to show to the audience and what not to show to build suspense. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle and something completely magical,” Rajkumar says.

Being someone who is part of a film right from the writing stage to the editing stage, how does Rajkumar remain objective about his work? “I have tried getting somebody else for the edit. They always say that it’s better to have an objective mind. But I feel the subjective mind needs to make sense of everything. Because getting a new person to understand what you want takes a lot of time. I just cannot work with another editor. I need to edit my own films,” concludes Rajkumar.