Log in to ‘Logout’

We all are prisoners of our mobile phones. So, when the very first line of ‘Logout’ reminds you of it as well as drives home precisely why it’s called a cell phone, you can only nod in unison. The same can be said about the entire runtime of the two-hour film. Much of what unfolds is relatable, much has already been documented, maybe with greater precision and depth. But the Amit Golani directorial focuses on the life of an influencer and serves the tale as a psychological thriller; murder in the very first scene.

You might be on a familiar path; after all, reams have been penned on the perils of social media, invasion of privacy and cyber frauds. But the way Golani weaves a world where ‘phone hamare liye distraction nahin puri duniya hai’, you are neither distracted by the subject nor its treatment. Rather, you are fully clued in on the fate of this young celebrity.

Babil Khan as Pratyush Dua urf Pratman, a famous social media influencer, holds your attention. In Babil’s mobile face and malleable expressions, you see a range of emotions: from his fierce desire to clock the 10 million follower mark to his palpable frustration when bereft of his phone, he is blackmailed by a stranger. You see flashes of his father Irrfan Khan’s intensity too. Much of what plays out in his digital life, especially the need to seek validation from extraneous sources, sounds real, made more authentic by his earnest acting. And as he takes to unfair means to downgrade his competitor, you might raise an eyebrow or two at his outrageous means. But, then, who is not aware of how the cookie crumbles in the virtual game of numbers.

All is fair in the digital world, where likes and comments matter more than ethical behaviour. So, what is that he would not to do to amplify his reach? Well, Pratman does have conscientious filters. For one, he won’t shake his booty. Of course, like each one of us, he is real but caught in the pretend game of content creation. ‘Dump hona relatable content hai, star banana aspirational content hai…’ — in short, everything about manufactured lives, from what the influencers eat to what they profess on public platforms, is content that is far removed from their reality. But before you think the movie judges his character or the lack of it, remember he is as much a victim of social media’s artifice as well as someone who perpetuates it. If his phone is his world, it also carries a world of information: his private data. Heavens are likely to fall once he loses it. But ‘Logout’ is not about a simple cybercrime.

Pratmanic, the term his fans use, is not just another word but a loaded one and a pointer. Other well-meaning and thought-provoking points are made. How digital obsession severs the family connect is enhanced in his relationship with his sister (a brief and sparkling cameo by Rasika Dugal).

Writing by Biswapati Sarkar is pungent and stops way short of the preachy mode, even though the messaging is crystal clear. The build-up is strong, engaging and convincing. Pratman’s conversations with the voice on the other end of his computer are eerie and more than one moment in their interface is hair-raising. But, the anticlimax, especially Pratman’s self-realisation and redemption, appears more sudden and less transformative and hence is not as persuasive. Smart one-liners make up for any lags though.

A clever dig displayed alongside Pratman’s face on the billboard, an advert for vegan food, plays on ‘you are what you consume’. You can certainly consume ‘Logout’; if nothing else, for Babil’s sterling performance. ‘Logout’ may not cajole you into logging out of your social media accounts, but as it once again knocks us on our knuckles, we may pause and ponder before scrolling endlessly, often unnecessarily.

The movie, however, tells us how breaking out of the digital obsession loop may not be that easy.