Screen Time: Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Menace?
Streaming this month: A woman encounters casual sexism; tech takes over a couple’s life; a sign language expert plays spy games; a modern relationship hits a bump; a father and son clash over money and values.
Aattam (Malayalam)
Amazon Prime Video
The Malayalam film industry hits it out of the park again with a thoughtprovoking thriller, whose ending nobody will see coming. Anand Ekarshi, in his directorial debut, tells a compelling story of a theatre troupe whose male members are thrown into disarray when the group’s only female member, Anjali (Zarin Shihab), is groped by one of the twelve men, after a night of drunken revelry. The film expertly explores themes of casual sexism and toxic masculinity. As the group discusses and debates whether to expel the person who they think groped Anjali, ego clashes ensue. And the men unravel as they bring up old, unresolved issues, professional jealousies, and insecurities. The tight, controlled, and understated narrative keeps the audience gripped. Given the current turmoil as a result of the Hema Committee report, which revealed rampant sexual harassment and assault cases against women in the Malayalam film industry, this film couldn’t have been timelier.
CTRL (Hindi/English)
Netflix
If you thought her turn as an heiress with a heart in Amazon’s Call Me Bae was fabulous, then Ananya Panday, as Nella, a social media influencer whose life is taken over by a creepy AI avatar, will wow you with her immersive performance in CTRL. Nella and Joe (Vihaan Samat, who played her husband in Call Me Bae) meet at a college fest, fall in love, and—like many of their Gen Z peers—live out their relationship on social media. When they become a social media sensation, gaining a huge audience, lucrative brand deals quickly follow. But then Joe cheats on Nella openly. Nella, who goes on a downward spiral, logs onto an app called CTRL and signs over her online life to an AI avatar called Allen (voiced by Aparshakti Khurana). The takeover is as hostile as it comes, as things turn sinister and lives are in danger. Motwane weaves an intricate story that is current, fresh, and eerily indicative of what the future might look like in an increasingly tech-dependent world. Panday has been doing the best work of her career in the past couple of years, and we can’t wait to see what’s next for her.
Berlin (Hindi)
ZEE5
In the mood for an absorbing spy thriller? Here’s one that will make your blood race on a cold November evening. Atul Sabharwal (who directed the fantastic period series Jubilee on Amazon) tells the story of Ashok Kumar (Ishwak Singh), a deaf-mute man accused of espionage and murder during the Russian president’s visit. Enter Pushkin Verma (Aparshakti Khurana), a teacher and sign language expert. Brought in to interpret for the intelligence agency, he soon finds himself caught in a dangerous web of espionage, politics, and deceit. Why that title, you may ask? The center of all the action is a coffee shop called Berlin, where clandestine meetings and information drops are organized. The star cast is stellar—Singh and Khurana are ably assisted by the enigmatic Rahul Bose, who plays the complicated Jagdish Sondhi, an agent trying to get the truth out of Ashok. The film is not so much about the big plot twist and reveal, which you will pretty much see coming. Its beauty lies in the unraveling and the atmospheric moodiness of the setting. Khurana, like Panday, is coming into his own with a bunch of layered performances and good roles. Watch it for his repartee with Ishwak, another brilliant performer and an OTT star in his own right.
Love, Sitara (Hindi)
ZEE5
Families are messy with all their secrets, parental drama, and relatives who make it their mission to stir the pot once in a while. This breezy Vandana Kataria directorial is centered on Sitara (Sobhita Dhulipala), a successful interior designer who decides to get married to her boyfriend, Arjun (Rajeev Siddhartha), in her ancestral home in gorgeous Kerala. As she prepares for the big day, she discovers her family is not all that it seems. Her dad may have had an affair in the past, her aunt’s having one in the present, and her mother has been scarred in more ways than one. Even Sitara’s grandmother has a past that surprises her family. Then Sitara has a bump of her own—a literal one. Arjun might not be the father. As the wedding day looms, the family realizes that their family will most definitely crumble if they don’t own up to the lies that have been told over the years. Sonali Kulkarni plays the effervescent aunt. Sobhita is her luminous self and her chemistry with Siddhartha is sweet.
Khalbali Records (Hindi)
JioCinema
It’s been a while since a musical drama series has graced our OTT screens. This one, directed by Devanshu Singh, is about the conflict between a father and son in the music industry. Manvendra (Ram Kapoor) runs his company, Galaxy Records, with a clear focus on profits. His son, Raghav (Skand Thakur), wants to break away and follow a more idealistic and creative path. Meanwhile, Ananya (Saloni Batra), the daughter of the family, is trying hard to keep the peace between the men, both of whom she loves dearly. Not just about familial issues, the show also spotlights the constant tussle between commerce and idealism that exists in any creative industry. How small, independent music labels have to go up against Goliath-like labels. The series kicks off on a dramatic note when a much-loved rap artist is killed during a live performance. This sets into motion a chain of events, pitting father against son, exposing dirty industry secrets such as sexual harassment and the exploitation of newer artistes. More than anything else, the series soundtrack will linger in your head.
Baisakhi Roy is a culture writer and journalist based in Ontario, Canada. Her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Huffington Post Canada, Chatelaine, Broadview and CBC. Formerly a reporter with The Indian Express in India, Roy is an avid Bollywood fan and co-hosts the Hindi language podcast KhabardaarPodcast.com. Email: baisakhi.roy@gmail.com
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