CTRL - India's "Black Mirror"

CTRL

Hindi / Cyber Punk Thriller
99 mins
Netflix

No, I didn't watch this for Ananya Panday.  I was watching it for Vikramaditya Motvane, one of Indian cinema's new-age filmmakers who isn't afraid to try diverse subjects and still hold his own!

Ananya Panday is Nella Awasthi, a girl from Delhi, who has moved to Mumbai to live with  her friend  Joe (Vihaan Samat). They are an extremely popular duo, as influencers, living the good life. One fine evening, Nella is about to surprise Joe on their "anniversary" when she catches him kisses another lady and all this is caught live on her Vlog!. 

Naturally this is bad publicity for her and she is trashed on social media and loses all her popularity. She decides to use AI- based software to delete Joe from her life. The AI (Allen) befriends Nella, gets access to her photos, video, admin access to her machine and is soon listening in and takes control of her life. Allen makes Nella popular again and soon she is "hot" on the vlogging / influencer scene! 

Everything is going well, until one fine day Joe goes missing for real and Nella could be the one to blame!

Ananya Panday has certainly grown in confidence with respect to her screen presence and dialogue, i humbly submit. The awkwardness is definitely gone and there is a certain confidence which comes through. In fact, I think she is absolutely the perfect casting for Nella. 

The movie marries the concepts of vlogging / influencing as a real job, while making us aware and alert to the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Much of Gen Z will identify with the movie. All presented in a way which is definitely new for Indian cinema. The short run time, the AI interface (voiced by Aparshakti Khurana , the claustrophobic single person view makes for really engaging and fantastic viewing. Very nicely done!