Password 12345, Cyber Cell & Arshad Warsi: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

There is something particularly satisfying about watching Arshad Warsi on screen. Give him a character with impeccable comic timing, a slightly exasperated expression and enough room to improvise, and he is quite simply a delight. In Pritam and Pedro, he gets all of that—and a little more.

Streaming on JioHotstar, this six-episode series is a surprisingly breezy watch, with episodes averaging around 34–35 minutes. It is a kidnapping mystery, a cybercrime thriller and, somewhere in between, a rather cheeky commentary on how hopelessly dependent we have become on technology.

At the centre are Pedro (Arshad Warsi), the quintessential old-school cop, and Pritam (Vir Hirani), a young, tech-savvy hacker. Hirani, making his acting debut, plays Pritam with an appealing combination of innocence and eccentricity. His character’s backstory gradually adds another layer to what initially appears to be a simple tech-genius-versus-old-school-cop setup.

And the duo works. Really well.

Pedro is the sort of policeman who is perfectly comfortable with instinct, interrogation and, presumably, a good old-fashioned password like 12345. Then he is handed the cyber cell—because apparently nothing says “modernise” like putting the least technologically inclined person in charge of technology (more as a punishment, quite literally). And the joke becomes even better when you realise Pedro isn’t exactly alone in his technological ignorance. The show cleverly suggests that the problem isn’t simply “old people don’t understand technology.” Plenty of us, regardless of age, are remarkably casual about our digital security.

That is where Pritam and Pedro quietly becomes more than a kidnapping mystery.

The series explores cyberbullying, online gaming, hacking, digital footprints, privacy and the frightening amount of information our phones casually collect about us. It also touches upon how easily young people can become vulnerable to the online world and how quickly something that begins as harmless entertainment can spiral into something much darker.

Yet the show rarely turns preachy. Instead, it uses dark humour and satire to make its point. We laugh at Pedro’s technological inadequacies, but then we realise that perhaps we should be laughing a little less loudly. Because how many of us actually know what information we’ve left behind online?

The uncomfortable truth is that social media isn’t exactly optional anymore. For some, it is work. For others, it is visibility, networking, branding or simply the way they stay connected. So where exactly does one draw the line between sharing enough and sharing too much? Pritam and Pedro doesn’t necessarily give us an answer, but it does make us pause before casually clicking “post.”

The supporting cast—including Vikrant Massey, Mona Singh, Satyadeep Misra and Boman Irani—adds further weight to the story, while Massey’s Martin brings an interesting dimension to the cybercrime thread.

What I particularly enjoyed is that the series doesn’t take itself too seriously despite dealing with some fairly serious issues. It keeps moving, keeps the mystery alive and manages to slip in its commentary without sounding like a three-hour lecture on internet safety.

And that, perhaps, is its biggest strength.

Pritam and Pedro is light without being lightweight, funny without becoming frivolous, and surprisingly thoughtful without becoming preachy. It is a classic odd-couple pairing wrapped in a very contemporary problem: what happens when the people chasing the criminals understand technology less than the criminals do?

Six short episodes, a good mystery, plenty of humour and two unlikely partners who make the ride thoroughly entertaining.

Definitely binge-worthy—and perhaps a good reminder to change that password while you’re at it.