Story:
You don’t really read the ‘Terms and Conditions’ before clicking on ‘Accept’ when a newly downloaded app on your digital device asks for ‘Permissions’. Do you? You might want to give this some serious thought after watching Vikramaditya Motwane’s latest offering – CTRL. The Ananya Panday and Vihaan Samat starrer is a cautionary yet captivating tale about the perils of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and our increasing dependence on social media in today’s digital, tech-savvy, craving-for-validation in the form of likes, shares, and comments world.
We meet Nalini aka Nella Awasthi (Ananya) and Joe Mascarenhas (Vihaan) at their college fest. It is here that they first meet and instantly hit it off. Sparks fly and they become a couple who vlog moments from their everyday life on their channel NJoy. Five years into the relationship, Nella catches Joe cheating on her and so do the followers of NJoy, courtesy: Nella’s plan to surprise Joe on a livestream. It’s hard to draw the line when content becomes life and life becomes content. The power ‘influencer’ couple break up and Nella becomes the butt of all jokes and memes. She seeks the help of an AI assistant, Allen, to erase her digital memories with Joe without thinking about the repercussions.
Little did Nella know that behind the seemingly friendly and borderline creepy virtual persona of Allen (voiced by Aparshakti Khurana) is a sinister plan to take control of “her life and happiness” (quite literally!). The film sheds the garb of a rom-com and turns into an engaging thriller when Joe goes missing. Nella embarks on a mission to find out what happened to Joe and ends up discovering the truth. A truth that changes her life forever. What will Nella do with the information? Will she learn from the mistakes of her past or give up all control altogether? That’s what the rest of the film is about.
Based on Avinash Sampth’s story, Motwane doubles as the director and co-writer of CTRL with Sampath. The director capably explores the seductive as well as the dangerous aspects of our dependency on digital media, via Nella and Joe. The need for instant gratification is eerily relatable and unsettling at the same time, and Motwane has portrayed the same with impeccable attention to detail. The way in which the first five years of Nella and Joe’s relationship is captured and presented instantly sucks you into their world as if you’re a fly on the wall of their apartment or one of their social media followers who’s up to speed about everything the couple has gone through.
You don’t realise when the narrative takes a tonal shift and turns into an exploration of the dark realities behind our online presence. At about 98 minutes, CTRL is crisp and treads at a steady pace, keeping you hooked to the screen, and never overstaying its welcome. While the film is quite captivating, it falls a little short of hitting the mark as a screenlife thriller. The big reveal about a mega company and its sinister plan behind the AI assistant app doesn’t quite leave the kind of impact that the well-established premise promised. This could also be due to our exposure to shows like Black Mirror (2011) and movies like Searching (2018).
Nevertheless, CTRL is a well-executed thriller, partly because of the excellent performance of Ananya Panday, who ably carries the film on her delicate shoulders. After impressive performances in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Call Me Bae, and now CTRL, it’s safe to say that Ananya seems to have cracked the kind of roles she can play to perfection. They are age-appropriate and fit the milieu perfectly. She knows that characters like these fit right into her world and she’s making the most of it. It’s not easy to keep the viewer invested when you’re supposed to be in front of a screen for most of your screen time. But Ananya manages to do that and how!
Vihaan Samat is apt as Joe and plays his part well. While his chemistry with Ananya was introduced in Call Me Bae where he plays her husband, in CTRL, you witness it flourishing on screen. Another reason why the film works is that there’s never a judgemental lens with which you see their relationship begin, evolve, and then go kaput. Motwane and Sampath deserve applauds for making it immensely relatable. Mad props to Sumukhi Suresh for penning the dialogues that aptly capture how Gen Zs of today’s times converse. Pratik Shah’s commendable cinematography skillfully presents the contrast between the real and the reel world, making you a part of the experience.
Verdict:
CTRL is a well-made thriller that explores the dark realities of an ever-expanding digital world, booming with an increasing need and dependency on AI-powered apps for instant gratification. It just falls short of being a scathing commentary about the same but is gripping enough to keep you hooked. CTRL is eerily relatable and engaging, but ‘terms and conditions’ apply here as well. You can watch it on Netflix.
CTRL
Watch On: Netflix
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Writers: Avinash Sampath, Vikramaditya Motwane, Sumukhi Suresh
Cast: Ananya Panday, Vihaan Samat
Rating: 3 stars
(This review was first published on The Movie Mail’s Instagram page)
