Filmmaker says when you love something, you’ll pursue it Vikramaditya Motwani Explaining why he was eager to make it”CTRL“, his new film is based on the world of the Internet and dominant cultureThe film allowed Motwane, known for acclaimed projects like “Udaan”, “Lootera”, “Trapped” and “Bhavesh Joshi Superhero” and shows like “Sacred Games” and “Jubilee”, to explore a new format. Gave a chance to apply.screenlife‘, where a story unfolds through different screens.
Filmmaker and co-writer Avinash Sampath began writing the story in mid-2020 and it still feels like he’s creating a futuristic tale. He did not realize that it would become a “realistic story” by the time he finished working on it.
“When you know the work is special, it inspires you and it’s the same with ‘CTRL’ because it’s something we wrote during the pandemic… I was so inspired that I wanted to make it Because some ideas stay with you and when you love something, you will always pursue it… You can tell great stories using the format of someone’s computer screen,” Motwane said in an interview. I told PTI.
Netflix The film revolves around Naila (Ananya Panday) and Joe (Vihaan Samat), a perfect lovebirds couple. When Joe cheats on Nella, she turns to an AI app to erase him from her life – until the app takes control.
Motwane did not realize that the story would be somewhat prescient when he started working on it because the conversation about AI was still in the future.
“It felt like we were writing a sci-fi movie. By the time we came to it, we didn’t realize it was going to be a realistic movie. The surge in influencer culture and AI topicality over the past year has been tremendous.” Is.”
He said, although “CTRL” is set in the midst of influencer culture, it is extremely relevant as screens have become a part of everyone’s lives today.
“We’re all using our devices all the time. I think the message or story works for all of us in a way, because we’re all suffering…we’re consumers but we’re also being consumed And film also, really, everyone is spending four to five to six hours a day on our phones, on our laptops, so that format may be familiar to a lot of people.”
When asked about a possible comparison with Charlie Brooker’s “Black Mirror,” Netflix’s hit sci-fi drama about how screens influence every aspect of human life, Motwane said he would take it as a compliment. Will take it as.
“Obviously, if it reminds you of ‘Black Mirror,’ I’ll take it as a compliment. I think ‘Black Mirror’ is the gold standard of technology-related stories of our time… I Happy to take it as a compliment, quite honestly,” the filmmaker said.
One of the earliest films to use the Screenlife format was Indian-American filmmaker Anees Chaganty who set his thriller “Searching” in cyberspace. The film stars John Cho as a father trying to solve the mystery of his daughter’s disappearance through her social media and chat history.
“I thought ‘Searching’ was a great movie and actually, we share a producer, Timur Bekmambetov. He was the producer of ‘Searching’ and he’s one of the EPs (executive producers) on ‘CTRL’ because he Promoting Screenlife a lot.”
Motwane said that some practical challenges arose, noting how filmmakers have a tendency to make things look better while shooting a film, which does not work for the story unfolding through the screen.
“I kept asking my crew to make it realistic. I said, ‘Make it dirtier, it looks too beautiful, too cool. You can’t have a movie that takes place on a computer screen and screw everything up. Giving beautiful and well-lit looks and stuff, being able to find the right balance was a challenge.”
With “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan” and “Call Me Bey”, actor Chunky Panday’s daughter Ananya has come a long way from the trolling she initially received for her privileged background.
Motwane said that he also changed his opinion about the actress when he saw her performance in “Gahraiyan”, directed by Shakun Batra, which starred Deepika Padukone in the lead role.
“Like everyone else I had the same opinion like ‘a Nepo kid is doing movies’, ‘didn’t go to college’ and things like that. I think with ‘Depths’ (I) was like, ‘One second ‘Wait, this girl is really good’ I thought that was a really good performance,” he said, praising the actor.
“Strangely, ‘CTRL’ is also about a person who gets trolled a lot… I knew he had potential so I was quite keen to cast him. I wouldn’t say he surprised me But she lived up to every expectation. I told her that working with her has been a pleasure and her work shows whether it is ‘Call Me Bay’, ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’ or ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’. Have ‘depths,'” he said.
Motwane believes that the actress is now “becoming the best version of herself”.
“Now with ‘CTRL’, I think she’s getting better and better and more sophisticated with every performance and is really owning her own. I think there’s no stopping her.”
There are reports about the next season of his hit series “Jubilee”, based on the early years of Hindi cinema, but Motwane would not say anything beyond “let’s see”.
He’s been writing “a lot of stuff” and hopes to figure out what he’ll do next.
CTRL Trailer: Ananya Panday and Vihaan Samat starrer CTRL official trailer
“CTRL” will premiere on Netflix on October 4.
