Film: CTRL

Cast: Ananya Panday, Vihaan Samat

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane 

Rating: 1.5 moons

Ananya Panday’s CTRL helmed by Vikramaditya Motwane, is a new addition to the cyber-thriller genre. The film delves into the realm of the online and real-world emphasizing a possible nightmare for this generation that counts on AI. While the makers tried their hands at an unique concept, the film ends up being an Indian adaptation of Black Mirror. Despite having an intriguing concept, it falls short of execution. 

CTRL follows the story of a young couple Nella (Ananya Panday) and Joe (Vihaan Samat), who are social media influencers. Their daily work is to vlog themselves and put their cute mushy videos on the internet, which become a hit. Moving forward, their relationship becomes transactional as they start making money on the internet and that becomes important for both. Things take a turn when Nella learns about Joe having an affair and she makes it public. Struggling to move on from the breakup she is advised to take the help of the CTRL app (AI assistant) to erase Joe’s digital footprints. Things turn worse when Joe mysteriously disappears from real life as well. 

By reflecting the international sci-fi series Black Mirror, CTRL offers nothing new. The film starts on an intriguing note but loses the plot midway. Director Vikramaditya Motwane and the team gave their best to keep it fresh and organic but unfortunately, they failed. The story isn’t compelling enough to keep the viewer hooked. It explores the theme of privacy invasion and shares a message - life is beyond the internet -   but implementations don’t impress. 

Ananya Panday once again fails to deliver an impactful performance. Despite essaying age-appropriate characters she struggles to prove her mettle as she doesn’t hit the right chords. Vihaan Samat doesn’t give the hero element in the film and his chemistry with his co-star lacks emotional depth.  

CTRL is another story of cybercrime cautioning the audience about the dark side of artificial intelligence and the internet. The film is a mirror to the scary digital world but we have seen this in the last few years. Ananya Panday’s Kho Gaye Hum Kaha was also on similar lines.