Are you truly in CTRL? In this review, Omar Qureshi takes a look at CTRL, Netflix's latest Hindi thriller starring Ananya Panday, and Vihaan, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane. The film dives into a world of suspense, tech-driven control, and psychological twists. He will be discussing the storyline, Ananya Panday's performance, the film's direction, and its take on modern technological fears. Is this film worth your binge? Find out as we break down its key elements, strengths, and whether CTRL delivers on its thrilling premise.
[00:00:00] AI or artificial intelligence is probably a product of natural laziness, say some,
[00:00:05] stemming from too much information easily available for humans to use safer tools for research.
[00:00:10] So, we have a Netflix film, CTRL or Control, about AI becoming the monster in the room,
[00:00:17] with all your data and life at its mercy. Just how safe are you and your data out there? Let's find out.
[00:00:23] Hi, this is Omar Qureshi and you're engaging with my digital reviewer,
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[00:00:33] You can also check my algorithms on Instagram, on OQspot and on Showbox.
[00:00:37] So let's check out the data on Control streaming on Netflix now.
[00:00:42] Influencer Nella Avasthi's entire life is an open Facebook. She and her college sweetheart,
[00:00:47] Joe Mascarenas, do everything together. From parties to vlogging to product reviews to just
[00:00:53] short of toiletries. They are a much-loved influencer couple and run a channel called NJOY.
[00:00:58] N for Nella, J for Joe. Get it? One day with phone camera on, Nella plans to surprise Joe Boy
[00:01:04] on their 5th anniversary. But she finds his hands full of another female influencer and them sharing
[00:01:10] a lip lock. Neha dumps him on live blog and they have a showdown where he confesses that he is bored
[00:01:15] of sharing everything for likes. The angry bird dumps his ass live on media and goes home shaken up.
[00:01:22] Of course, her very public life has haters and she finds herself struggling to sustain something
[00:01:27] that she did together with Trader Joe. Furious with Joe, Nella seeks the help of AI
[00:01:32] and gets an avatar called Alan, Ulta for Nella, samjai? As her personal digital assistant,
[00:01:38] she tells Alan, voiced by Apar Shakti Khurana, to erase Joe from her digital life,
[00:01:43] wiping mascariners as easily as mascara. But Alan and the app start monitoring her.
[00:01:49] Meanwhile, Joe has vanished and everyone investigating the parent company Mantra 2 is
[00:01:54] controlled or deleted. After several twists in this 90-minute film, we reach the digitally
[00:01:59] altered climax, even as she stumbles upon a conspiracy by the app's parent company Mantra.
[00:02:05] Control deals with the evils of modern technology and how data is easily offered by a willing
[00:02:11] janta for a few minutes of showing off and vanity. The currency they crave are likes and subscriptions.
[00:02:17] AI as the new evil was recently dealt with in Megan, the Blumhouse movie about a robot-sized
[00:02:23] killer Chucky. Here it's more about data privacy and conspiracies. Borrowing from the slick Sandra Bullock
[00:02:29] 1995 film The Net and even some scenes reminding of Cameron Crowe's masterpiece Vanilla Sky,
[00:02:35] but unable to decide whether it wants to be an influencer horror story or a serious look at data breaches
[00:02:41] and a world of deepfake disasters. In fact, Control also borrows heavily from the premise of Jim Carrey
[00:02:48] and Kate Winslet's iconic eternal sunshine of the spotless mind as well. Even at 90 minutes,
[00:02:54] it feels long with the Erase Joe scenes taking forever. Maybe the iOS and processors needed to
[00:02:59] upgrade here for speeds and pace. Ananya Pandey as Nella is very good. She's fast becoming the
[00:03:05] darling of the metro-read Netflix audiences. She's seamless as the share-like revenue-hungry gal.
[00:03:12] It's fast becoming her USP. Bihant Samad is seen with her again after Call Me Bay
[00:03:16] as the beleaguered Joe. He's good too. The rest are the usual suspects in a glam film directed by
[00:03:22] Vikramaditya Motwane who shows great skill and narrative style here, but he lets the movie drift and
[00:03:27] play out his own digital footprint. However, he captures the current internet generation pretty well
[00:03:33] and even has reaction videos by influencers. The film is shot like a phone or laptop screen
[00:03:38] and looks vibrant. Here is a good director with potential to do even better in this zone.
[00:03:44] Watch Control for the dangers of clicking on iAgree for any app and for Ananya. I rate Control 3 stars.
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