19 July,2026 01:50 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Shashank Kunwar and Pranjal, writers of Pritam and Pedro. Pic via special arrangement
Rajkumar Hirani made his debut in the OTT space as a creator and producer with the cybercrime comedy thriller, Pritam and Pedro. The show has been widely accepted by the audience, particularly for the chemistry between the titular leads, played by Vir Hirani and Arshad Warsi, respectively. Another aspect is the humour, which has struck a chord with its relatability.
The dialogue writers of the show, Shashank Kunwar and Pranjal Saxena, got candid with mid-day about the process of writing for the show, striking a balance between humour and a serious topic, and working with Rajkumar Hirani, who also co-wrote the dialogues with the duo.
Talking about working with the ace director, Shashank says, "I think it was the way he opened, and was very welcoming to the ideas, although he is very clear with his thoughts and what he is looking for." He further adds, "The main thing that stays with us is how he is very particular about communication and making it very simple. The simplicity of it, the honesty of it, and the thing should be understood by one and all, while retaining the quirk of it, the essence of it and the punch of it."
Pranjal recalls their first meeting with Rajkumar, sharing, "Our first meeting with him was interesting because when we went and met his team. Then Raju sir came in, and so, he was most interested in getting to know us. Where we come from, who are we? So we are both engineers, and it turned out that he also studied engineering, if I am not mistaken, either in Nashik or Nagpur. So that clicked; that was a wonderful session to discuss life in general. Then he told us, 'Just go ahead, put in whatever things are coming to you as a first draft and let's connect soon.' That's how this entire thing began."
Talking of how the humour and the jokes in the show came from their everyday lives, Pranjal says, "I am more like Pedro because I started my engineering in1997, the computer was still happening, software was still booming and I had nothing to do with software whatsoever, so I became the voice of Pedro somewhere because I had the same question, 'Why on earth this keyboard starts with Q and not A?'"
Recalling another incident, he shares, "My wife is a fashion designer, and we've always had this clash between the two of us, around the naming of colours. There are some random colours which are not in my vocabulary. I know 12 colours, and then comes fuchsia pink. So that entire fuchsia pink is from my own personal experience. The fun part is that we write the dialogue as fuchsia pink and then, you know, the colour of the mobile is chosen accordingly to be fuchsia."
