By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE, 4 October, 2024: CTRL has globally premiered today on Netflix and it will not be wrong to call it a rather curious high tech tale laced with entangled happenings of humans in the cyber world. Many of you are young cyber geeks, cruising through the virtual world with its fun and pangs.
CTRL weaves young cyber-savvy youngsters in metro India, in a thread of 21st century intrigues in a virtual ambience. Your cyber actions and consequences can lead to unprecedented situations. With, Artificial Intelligence (AI) now almost embedded firmly, the intervention in human life can be fatal.
Earlier, there have been movies with the virtual world in the background. A similar name movie (CTRL, 2018) had a story of three youngsters, a couple and the girls brother whose lives have been taken over by a new computer virus created by the brother. When it is unleashed, the three are trapped. Slowly, the digital becomes organic. But here we have a different scenario.
Director Vikramaditya Motwane’s CTRL ,revolves around a couple in love, then a break and the rest is a thriller deep in the virtual world. Nella Awasthi (girl), Joe Mascarendhas (boy), another boy, an AI driven App, data issues – in fact an attempt to erase the digital past through the App. And, then a social-media comeback? Can someone be erased for ever from digital life?
The movie delves into the possible misuse of AI driven cyber products. Those enticed are trapped and coming out is not easy or impossible. They can take command of a life and happiness or, maybe, lead to many issues. Worldwide demand to regulate AI is already there. But will the tech giants who control the world with technologies that do not recognise any boundary agree. The former finance minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis’s book Techno Feudalism – What Killed Capitalism (2024) talks about the power of the tech giants who control the cyber world. AI is no exception.
CTRL, is not a science fiction movie, I would call it a sweet techno tale, that at times is flashing with gadgets that have taken over life. Hours mesmerised and intoxicated by the wonders of the cyber world. In CTRL, real life is taken over by this very technology and humans are pinned down. In Chappie (2015), the AI driven robot used for law enforcement also falls in love with a human. But here we have humans in love taken over by technology.
The movie is one hour and 39 minutes and the second half is gripping . Director Vikramaditya Motwane (Udaan, Lootera, Trapped, …) was a long-time assistant of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. His movie CTRL, in content and style is very different from Bansali’s movies.
Vikramaditya Motwane says, “With the amount of time we spend on our devices, screen time is now redefined as screen life! The question is, are we actually in control of all the digital extensions of our life, or are we being controlled? That’s the answer CTRL tries to explore. For a concept as new-age as this, we not only needed a cast who lives such a life, but a medium like Netflix that’s relevant.”
The movie is intriguing and the message is clear.
Ananya Panday and Vihaan Samat give stellar performances. The use of graphics and the cyber shots create the techno buzz so necessary in this movie. This movie is a great effort by the director and his team. Well done, India can do it.
I give 3 and half stars out of five to CTRL.
CREDITS
Produced by: Saffron, Andolan Films
Producer: Nikhil Dwivedi, Arya Menon
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Writer: Avinash Sampath, Vikramaditya Motwane
Dialogues: Sumukhi Suresh
Cast: Ananya Panday, Vihaan Samat
