Corporate greet, data protection, internet culture, influencer groups, social media relationships SSR-Rhea Chakraborty case—Vikramaditya Motwane’s cyber thriller CTRL starring Ananya Panday tackles many themes at once and does justice to almost all of them. The film is essentially a montage of television, laptop, computer and mobile screens which are spliced together—think the Modern Family episode where the entire plays out on a character’s iMac screen.
CTRL is like the lovechild between Dibakar Banerjee’s LSD 2 (2024), HER (2013) and Black Mirror (2014-19, TV series)—all wrapped into a 1 hour, 38 minute exhilarating sequence which exposes the dark side of Artificial Intelligence and corporate greed. Our protagonist is Nella Awasthi, a twenty-something who works as an influencer in Mumbai. Her boyfriend Joe (played by Vihaan Samat) creates content with Nella on their vlogging channel titled ‘NJoy’.
CTRL Movie: Plot
Both Vihaan and Panday do justice to their roles as cutesy, clueless Internet couple whose relationship is their primary source of income (it gets them brand deals!). Soon, Nella catches Joe cheating (that too on a livestream!). The video goes viral and the Internet has a field day—Yashraj Mukhate makes a catchy remix out of Nella’s video. Tanmay Bhatt and his gang (‘Rider OP’, Shayar OP’ and others) react to the video in their meme review.
Full marks to Motwane for getting viral content makers in the film—after all, you can’t comment on Internet culture and virality without getting some of the biggest viral stars on board. Nella begins romancing Allen (an anagram of her name), an AI bot which she uses to erase Joe from her social media feed. As the bot becomes more controlling of Nella’s life, she uncovers a dark web of corporate fraud, data theft, and spine-chilling murders.
CTRL Movie: Performances
The editing of the film by Jahaan Noble is brilliant. Every frame on the screen carries information. The comment feeds, livestream comments, tab switching can be overwhelming at times (this critic struggled with sensory overload at one point). However, no information is unnecessary. You can literally pause at the screen to see comments, posts, icons on Nella’s desktop—the attention to detail is worthy of appreciation.
What also caught this critic’s eye was how popular social media apps have been renamed (presumably for legal reasons) but their user interface is pretty much the same. So YouTube becomes ‘Community’, Instagram is ‘Gramograma’, GMail is ‘PeakMail’, Google is…well, Google. You can’t make a film on the dangers of artificial intelligence and data theft without getting the UI of apps and browsers right so full marks to production for acing the technical details.
CTRL Movie: Writing And Direction
I particularly liked the sudden tonal shift in the film which occurs somewhere around the halfway mark. We suddenly transition from a commentary on the superficial online relationships and influencer culture to the dark side of the digital world. The twist is unexpected, and leaves you guessing what’s next. As Nella goes deeper into the rabbit hole of the nexus between data companies and corporations, she runs the risk of getting murdered..or jailed.
Ananya as Nella does justice to her role. She shines particularly in the scenes which require her to be angry, After Call Me Bae, Panday has quickly emerged as a relatable face for many online GenZ folks. Vihaan Samat, who was also seen in Prime Video’s ‘Call Me Bae’ opposite Panday, is convincing as the douchebag boyfriend, ‘the average Joe’. The sudden shift in his character is believable as Samat acting chops make it convincing.
CTRL Movie: What Works, What Doesn’t
What didn’t work as much for this critic was the lengthy monologue delivered by a character which oversimplifies the central conflict and dumbs it down to explain it to the viewers. It can come across as overbearing at times. Motwane’s cyber thriller will keep you engrossed throughout its 1 hour, 38 minute duration.
Comparisons with Black Mirror, and other films in the genre are bound to happen, but it is safe to say Motwane’s CTRL offers commentary on almost every issue plaguing the digital world. At no point does this come across as preachy or overcooked. Motwane manages to get the message across. In fact, he quite convincingly squeezes in commentary on the SSR-Rhea case. Somewhere, the cyber thriller also works as a love story—the parting scene might just give you a lump in your throat. All in all, CTRL is a must-watch.
Star rating: 3.5/ 5 stars
CTRL is now streaming on Netflix.
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