Starring: Ananya Panday, Vihaan Samat, Devika Vatsa, Kamakshi Bhat, Devika Vatsa
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
Ananya Panday is enjoying quite the boom across streaming platforms, with this latest Netflix thriller for the social media age coming close on the heels of some of her other catchy titles.
In ‘Ctrl’, which signifies the control or lack thereof that we all have on our keyboard ruled lives – from emails and messages to social media, Nella Awasthi (Panday) is an unabashed digital addict. As an influencer with a healthy fan following on Instagram, documenting her every move in life is quite the norm for her – from meeting the love of her life Joe Mascarenhas (Samat) to their very ugly break-up.
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The reality of today’s digital world, however, hits Nella harder than the break-up when she realises that her pairing with Joe is documented in thousands of photographs and videos, turning those once cherished memories into brutal scars. A chance message about downloading a free app to create a ‘friendly’ avatar Allen, who will step in to help fix Nella’s digital footprint by eliminating each and every painful memory of her ex-boyfriend, seems like a no-brainer.
Her smooth-talking digital best friend soon takes over more than just her digital footprint and goes on to organise her diary towards a new-found explosion in her online popularity. But is there something more sinister hidden behind Allen’s friendly persona? Will Nella be able to catch on to the monopolising moves of a tech giant behind this new app before it all ends in murder?
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This spooky edge-of-the-seat drama will send chills down the spine of anyone who has ever felt a sense of losing control every time a new app is downloaded. Motwane’s sharp screenplay and direction makes ‘Ctrl’ one of the most uneasy films to be released in recent times. It simply holds up a mirror to how much each one of us is willing to give up as we get consumed into the increasingly sophisticated worldwide web.
While side-stepping any preachy take on the explosion of social media influencers living in a parallel universe, the film has a haunting message for all of us caught in a web that none of us can ever fully control.
