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When was the last time you smelled a flower? We used to watch butterflies and mail postcards. We aspired to be bankers and pilots, not influencers. If you are a late millennial, Gen-Z, or beyond, such quips of nostalgia might ring a bell. So, where are the butterflies and flowers that let you look at them without paying? Who wants my postcards if I have 50 unread messages and voice notes? Do pilots get paid as richly as influencers with fewer guns over their heads? Today, we happily let technology take control of our lives and Vikramaditya Motwane’s Netflix Original film CTRL discusses why we are on a trip to doomsville.
A few years back, when Netflix’s own Jamtara discussed the traps set by online fraudsters, not many of us realized it could happen to us – until it did. CTRL operates on a more relatable sphere where a large corporation decides to monitor the lives of netizens with constant scrutiny of their movements. Perhaps referring to a telecom giant in India with various other businesses, the AI invasion of our lives, somehow, does not come off as ominous as the film wants it to be. Our data has famously been leaked, our privacy is no longer valued and we are busy finding better ways to shield ourselves. This is happening in present-day India to a limit that it is normalized. So, when influencer couple Nella (Ananya Panday) and Joe (Vihaan Samat) break up, we expect the plot to give finer details.
Panday in a film about the perils of social media is not new. And as always, it’s fun to see her navigate through screenshots, chats, and everything digital. Motwane integrates his fast narrative with stuff that any moderately savvy youngster would understand. The split from Joe leads Nella to hire an AI service named CTRL. Its job is to help Nella erase Joe from her digital history. Although nothing as passionate as what we saw in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, the interaction between the girl and the quirky AI assistant Allen (voiced by Aparshakti Khurrana) is amusing.
What does not work in CTRL is the love angle. It is believable that Nella has had a functional relationship with Joe thus far, and they collaborated professionally as well. However, when the film intimidates her with old-school definitions of love, the plot refuses to gel with the times. The cause of the breakup and the spat between them do not make sense considering Joe’s different ambitions—which Nella, for some reason, was clueless about in a five-year-long courtship.
Motwane is quick to jump into action. We realize the relationship is a mere tool to make the leads equal participants in the proceedings. You feel for Joe as CTRL never gives him a chance to defend his actions. You wouldn’t hate Nella for her impulses, but you keep a grudge against the writers for giving her a moral edge over him. The universe of trolls is perennially amusing, and the most humorous of all is Yashraj Mukhate, who creates a signature music piece from Nella’s viral video.
CTRL soon enters an alarming space where we get information about the villainous entity. Soon, it tiptoes towards a gripping final act laced with shockers and an expose on social media trials (remember the Sushant Singh Rajput episode?). The last 15 minutes of Motwane’s film has to be among the most horrifying in recent times. The filmmaker ties it to the inevitability of our lives anchored by algorithms, not relationships.
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In Motwane, Ananya Panday (who has always been a hardworking actor) finds a filmmaker who would channel her enthusiasm in the right direction. The actor is a revelation as she goes through the chills with a clear understanding of the material. Vihaan Samat is a perfect foil to Panday and his final monologue is among the film’s most assured moments. However, I wish the film delved deeper into Joe’s ambitions, personal and professional. As an additional plus, the duo shares a life-like chemistry (seen previously in Call Me Bae). An impressive Devika Vatsa, in a brief cameo, is the supporting player with adequate screen time.
A tough film to ace as an editor, Jahaan Noble’s work is contemporary and slick. If Sneha Khanwalkar’s moody score keeps you on the edge of your couches, Yashika Gor does a convincing job with the set designs. Sumukhi Suresh’s dialogues get the pulse of Gen-Z to perfection.
In CTRL, the writing (Motwane and Avinash Sampath) radiates confidence although the cause of the terror is never as startling as the leads’ resistance efforts. That said, the cyber-thriller is nothing like the director’s previous outings. Aside from their underlying politics and an anti-capitalistic stance, it’s impossible to bracket his work or identify a defining style in them. It remains to be seen whether the filmmaker would ever swim the classic Bollywood waters. Motwane’s peer and comrade Anurag Kashyap aced the genre with Mukkabaaz, so why not?
Rating: ★★★ 1/2
