CTRL (Hindi, 2024)
A toddler looks at a portrait on the wall and automatically swipes his hand, expecting to see another picture. Every child from every crook and nook of the house burrows out the moment the WiFi router is turned off, blurting, in their weary red eyes, “The WiFi is not working!” Never mind that the house is burning!
We have become digitally addicted. Social media is closely linked to this connectivity. So gratifying has this media interaction become that people would rather communicate via their devices than in person. It simply simplifies things. One can do away with the customary curtsies and communicate when necessary and on the go.
The serotonin infusion given by likes and thumbs up has reached such alarming levels that children have been known to have bitten off the hands that fed them. Mothers have been bludgeoned by their children in tantrums.
Never in human history have people been scrutinised so minutely as in Instagram and Facebook posts. Filters and enhancement techniques have turned people into porcelain mannequins that they are not, appearing unblemished with infantile innocence.
To complicate this unstoppable monster comes deepfakes and artificial intelligence that highlight the natural stupidity of humans. Lured by fame and that one-minute spot under the spotlight, they are willing to lose all decency and privacy. What we need to realise is that it comes with a price. We become open books for devious conglomerates to own us, monetise us, commoditise us and wrap us up around their fingers.
Under the cloak of anonymity, humans, too, become emboldened to blurt out things with no filter that we would not otherwise do in person. We threaten, bully, haunt, and act like a mob would. We clamour in excitement when someone falls from grace. It becomes our next teatime or Twitter conversation. For some, the stress of this fall is too much for their simple minds to handle and find an easy exit.
This movie, a new format for an Indian film, shows the evil that new computer tech companies can and will do to spy on people and manipulate them for their own monetary gains. It is a fresh movie with a fresh face that blends well into the world of influencing and internet stars. It highlights the narcissistic nature of the current generation and how ever ready they are to pose and come out with a picture perfect at the drop of a coin.
The lesson is that we are doomed. We cannot live without digital connectivity, but at the same time, we have signed off on ourselves and our liberty to the big companies who call the shots now. They have infiltrated every fibre of our modern lives. They have become the modern-day imperialists with big gunboats and canons, too mighty for peasant natives to fight with spears and blowpipes.
Director: Vikramaditya Motwane
We have become digitally addicted. Social media is closely linked to this connectivity. So gratifying has this media interaction become that people would rather communicate via their devices than in person. It simply simplifies things. One can do away with the customary curtsies and communicate when necessary and on the go.
The serotonin infusion given by likes and thumbs up has reached such alarming levels that children have been known to have bitten off the hands that fed them. Mothers have been bludgeoned by their children in tantrums.
Never in human history have people been scrutinised so minutely as in Instagram and Facebook posts. Filters and enhancement techniques have turned people into porcelain mannequins that they are not, appearing unblemished with infantile innocence.
To complicate this unstoppable monster comes deepfakes and artificial intelligence that highlight the natural stupidity of humans. Lured by fame and that one-minute spot under the spotlight, they are willing to lose all decency and privacy. What we need to realise is that it comes with a price. We become open books for devious conglomerates to own us, monetise us, commoditise us and wrap us up around their fingers.
This movie, a new format for an Indian film, shows the evil that new computer tech companies can and will do to spy on people and manipulate them for their own monetary gains. It is a fresh movie with a fresh face that blends well into the world of influencing and internet stars. It highlights the narcissistic nature of the current generation and how ever ready they are to pose and come out with a picture perfect at the drop of a coin.
The lesson is that we are doomed. We cannot live without digital connectivity, but at the same time, we have signed off on ourselves and our liberty to the big companies who call the shots now. They have infiltrated every fibre of our modern lives. They have become the modern-day imperialists with big gunboats and canons, too mighty for peasant natives to fight with spears and blowpipes.
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