Netflix, Saffron, Andolan and Travelin Bone’s Ctrl is a film about the evils of social media. It talks about the immense reliance of youngsters on social media platforms and what disastrous repercussions the same can have on their lives.
Nalini Awasthi alias Nella (Ananya Panday) and Joy Mascarenhas (Vihaan Samat) are social media influencers who have a huge following. Besides being extremely popular among the youth, they also make a decent amount of money from their YouTube channel, Njoy. Both are in a relationship. On the fifth anniversary of their relationship, Nella decides to surprise boyfriend Joy and because her life revolves around social media, she also records live for her channel the entire surprise episode. Even while the live recording is on, she catches Joy red-handed kissing another girl, Shonali (Kamakshi Bhat). After the episode, Nella and Joy break up despite Joy’s apologies. While apologising, Joy also reveals to Nella that he and Shonali were working together on a secret project. A few days later, Joy even comes to meet Nella. While she thinks, he has come to apologise again and, therefore, doesn’t meet him, Joy has actually come to reveal to her something more about his secret project. Meanwhile, Nella has assigned the task of erasing Joy from her memory (and her electronic devices, of course) to an AI-generated guy, Allen (Aparshakti Khurana). Like an obedient assistant, Allen does all that Nella desires.
Even as Nella is almost done with erasing Joy from her life and memory, she gets the shocking news that Joy is missing. She lodges a police complaint, but soon thereafter, news of Joy’s murder hits the headlines. A devastated Nella probes further and learns of Joy’s secret mission which was to expose a company which had developed an AI app that could take complete control of the lives of its users. To her horror, she realises that the AI-generated Allen is nothing but a product of the very company which Joy wanted to expose. She is also convinced that the company had gotten Joy murdered. Will she be able to get the murderers to book?
Avinash Sampath has written a very imaginative story about the misuse of Artificial Intelligence and the dangerous consequences of throwing open one’s life for the world to consume on social media. The screenplay, penned by Avinash Sampath and Vikramaditya Motwane, is fast-paced and very engaging. Although those among the older generation, who are not conversant with modern technology and social media, may not be able to comprehend the drama, the youngsters will understand exactly what the writers intend to convey. In particular, the revelation of the helplessness of Joy first and Nella later sends chills down the spines of the viewers because the youngsters are all aware that such an eventuality might arise. The only question that begs an answer is: When? Sumukhi Suresh’s dialogues are very nice and perfectly suit the drama.
Ananya Panday acts wonderfully and plays Nella’s character so well that the youngsters will completely identify with her. Vihaan Samrat is natural in the role of Joy Mascarenhas. Aparshakti Khurana shines as Allen. Devika Vatsa lends decent support in the role of Nella’s friend, Bina. Kamakshi Bhat has her moments as Shonali. Ravish Desai leaves a lovely mark as Aryan K. Samit Gambhir makes his presence felt in a brief role as Manish Hirani. Tanmay Bhat, Rohan Joshi, Aditya Kulshreshth, Nishant Tanwar and Vishal Dayama (all playing themselves) provide entertaining moments. Suchita Nigam Patel (as Nella’s mother) leaves a mark. Rushali Yadav (as Sakshi Makhija), Vinod Kapoor (as Nella’s father), Harish Dudhade (as police inspector Shekhawat) and the others are adequate.
Vikramaditya Motwane’s direction is mature. He has chosen a difficult and unique subject and does a fine job of its narration. Special mention must be made of how he has simplified the technical jargon without losing the essence. Sneha Khanwalkar’s music is fairly nice. Anvita Dutt’s lyrics are appealing. Vartika Jha’s choreography is functionl. Sneha Khanwalkar’s background music has spunk. Pratik Shah’s camerawork is very good. Vikram Dahiya’s action and stunt scenes are of a fine standard. Production designing (by Yashika Gor) is appropriate. Jahaan Noble’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Ctrl is an entertaining film with a good message. It may have its limitations because of lack of tech-savviness among the older generation but its target audience — the youth — will like it.
Released on 4-10-’24 on Netflix.