Logout

The opening line that a ‘cell’ phone has 1 billion prisoners is substantiated by all that follows. The security guard of a high-rise is so ‘imprisoned’ by a cricket match on his cell phone that he barely notices a visitor putting his name down as ‘Virat Kohli’ in the register. Director Amit Golani is off to an energetic start as a lady comes out of the high-rise and a body comes hurtling down from the terrace. All you see is the splatter of blood on her as she screams. The tone is efficiently maintained as Pratyush Dua (Babil Khan) wakes up to do what every gizmo-reliant, tech-freaky youngster does – ignore calls from Mummy, get gadget ‘Aby-e’ to switch on/switch off the lights and turn on mood music while a robot cleans the house and he’s online all the time. Contactless food, friends whose numbers he doesn’t know by heart coz it’s all stored in one gadget, followers who mean everything to him, an entire life that’s inside his mobile phone. He’s even done the unforgivable with his dad when the parent came between Pratyush and his mobile phone.

Babil Khan is notorious for being nice. Social media is filled with videos of the actor profusely apologising for doing something as slight as stepping in front of someone, or striking up heartfelt conversations with paparazzi about his mother. The earnestness is palpable and can be — and is often — adjudged to be people-pleasing, as if his life depends on being liked. In Amit Golani’s Logout, Khan plays Pratyush Dua, a young man desperate to be liked. In other words, he is an influencer. The self-reflexivity of the casting does wonders. Khan is tremendously effective as Pratyush, who spends hours holding his phone to keep a tab on his followers. It is not exactly a physical role, but the actor, with the camera tightly framing his face, remains attuned to the tiniest of gestures. A faint smile hovers over his lips when his following surges, a hint of panic when a rival influencer seems primed to hit 10 million followers before him.

For a hot second in 2023, the Internet turned on Babil Khan. The young actor, son of the late Irrfan, became the rare nepo-kid who got trolled for saying all the right things. His viral take on romantic relationships — where he batted for gender equality and called out the chauvinistic phrasing of “getting girls” — was treated with suspicion; he was accused of being too rehearsed, too pretentious. Social media was flooded with scrutiny and jokes about performative wokeness and green-flag syndromes. To his credit, Khan leans into this persona for Logout, a cyber thriller in which he plays a famous and chronically online influencer on the brink of breaching the 10-million-followers barrier.

ज़रा सोचिए-आपका मोबाइल फोन, जिसमें आपके सारे राज़, सारे पासवर्ड, सारा कच्चा-चिट्ठा है, वह किसी के हाथ लग जाए और उसके बाद वह आपको अपने इशारों पर नचाने लगे तो…? ज़ी-5 पर आई इस फिल्म ‘लॉगआउट’ की कहानी भी कुछ ऐसी ही है। सोशल मीडिया पर कंटैंट बना कर डालने वाले प्रत्यूष दुआ यानी प्रैटमैन को लगता है कि उसके एक करोड़ प्रशंसकों का रिमोट कंट्रोल उसके हाथ में है। लेकिन उसे असलियत का अहसास तब होता है जब एक दिन उसका फोन किसी लड़की के हाथ लग जाता है और अब प्रत्यूष का रिमोट कंट्रोल उसके पास है। वह जो चाहती है, प्रत्यूष को करना पड़ता है। और तभी होता है एक मर्डर…! यह नए ज़माने की कहानी है। इसे आप टेक-थ्रिलर कह सकते हैं। सोशल मीडिया पर अपने फॉलोवर्स बढ़ाने के लिए कुछ भी ऊल-जलूल पोस्ट कर रहे कंटैट क्रिएटर्स के खट्टे, मीठे और कभी-कभी कड़वे किस्से हम-आप गाहे-बगाहे पढ़ते ही रहते हैं। यह फिल्म हमें उन लोगों की उस दुनिया में ले जाती है जो दूर से तो चमक-दमक भरी दिखती है लेकिन उसके अंदर का सच सिर्फ वे ही जानते हैं, या शायद वे भी नहीं जानते हैं। सोशल मीडिया पर किसी कंटैट क्रिएटर को फॉलो करने वालों को ‘लगता’ है कि वे उस क्रिएटर के फैन हैं और वह क्रिएटर उनका हीरो। लेकिन असलियत अक्सर इससे उलट ‘होती’ है। यह फिल्म इसी ‘लगने’ और ‘होने’ के फर्क को अंडरलाइन करती है।