The Zee5 original, Logout, directed by Amit Golani, has its heart in the right place, and no doubt it is a decent watch. But I felt that though the idea of people getting consumed by content had potential, the creators weren’t able to deliver on it. Logout is the story of a content creator whose phone gets stolen by an anonymous fan who wants his undivided attention. But what disappointed me was that the film didn’t deliver a unique perspective about the life of a so-called influencer. We are all aware of how social media can affect your mental health, how this generation is addicted to their phones, and how today any kind of absurdity is consumed as content. The subplot of a son not being on speaking terms with his father again had a lot of potential, but it wasn’t able to leave the kind of impact it was intended to. Also, I felt that the narrative was not as layered as it could have been since it was dealing with complex problems and characters. I wouldn’t have bothered complaining about that for a mindless entertainer. But Logout wants to make a point, and that’s why I feel it is important to do justice to the characters and the concept too. That said, you should give the film a chance, watch it for yourself, and then decide if you liked it or not.
Spoiler Alert
Who stole Pratyush’s phone?
Social media was Pratyush’s entire world. He was a well-known influencer who used the username Pratman and who was on the verge of having 10 million followers. There was an unspoken race between Pratyush, and another influencer named Ankita, and the former wanted to make it to the milestone of 10 million before her. Pratyush and his manager, JD, knew that it was important to stay relevant and a notch above your competitors. Staying relevant was never the problem, but the things the influencer did for it and the lengths to which they went were a bit problematic. Seeing Pratyush’s life, I felt claustrophobic. The man didn’t have any real interactions. He went to meet his sister, and not even for a single second was he able to give her his undivided attention. Pratyush met Bhuvam Bam (who had a guest appearance in the film) for a collaboration, and after that he got a bit drunk at a party. Pratyush passed out at his place, and the next morning when he woke up, he couldn’t find his phone. Without his phone Pratyush felt paralyzed, and he didn’t know what to do. Pratyush switched his computer on and logged into his email and other messenger accounts. A fan, who apparently knew where his phone was, had messaged him. Pratyush called that fan, who happened to be a girl, and got to know that he had left his phone in the cab he had taken the previous night. That girl said that she would talk to the cab driver for him and make sure he got back his phone. The girl told Pratyush that the cab driver was asking for money, and Pratyush had no option but to trust her. The moment Pratyush logged into his bank account, an OTP was sent to his phone to complete the transaction. Pratyush thought for a while if it was a risk worth taking, but then he told the girl what his password was. Just moments later, Pratyush realized that he had put the remote control of his life into the hands of a mentally unstable person.
What did the blackmailer want from Pratyush?
It didn’t take long for Pratyush to realize that his phone had been stolen by that crazy fan. She wanted Pratyush’s undivided attention, and she threatened him that if he didn’t do that, then she would post humiliating stuff on his social media account and make a mockery out of him. JD gave a call to Pratyush after he saw that the latter had posted a picture on his account. Pratyush endorsed a brand that promoted vegetarianism, and in that picture he was eating non-vegetarian food. JD and Pratyush both got stressed as they knew that they could lose their deals. But then Pratyush noticed something. His follower count started to increase, and people wanted to know about the controversy. He realized that more than good content, people liked a scandal, a controversy. Pratyush told JD to not inform the cybercrime cell and wait till the next morning, as he felt that he could benefit from the situation and could reach his goal before his competitor. JD told him that he was taking too much of a risk, but Pratyush didn’t listen to him. Pratyush felt that if he just gave attention to that girl and talked to her, then she would return his phone. Pratyush did some background research and found the girl’s father’s phone number using minor details that he managed to extract from her. He had a chat with her brother, and that’s when he relayed what he had signed up for. That girl’s name was Sakshi Kishore, and she had run away from her house a couple of days back. She was watching one of Pratyush’s videos when her father came and took her phone. Sakshi got so angry that she took her father’s inhalers and left the house without telling anybody. Because of not getting his medication at the right time, Sakshi’s father was put on the ventilator. Pratyush was shocked when he came to know about it. Sakshi’s brother told Pratyush not to engage with her as she was not in the right state of mind.
Was Pratyush able to find Sakshi?
At the beginning of the film, we had seen a delivery boy entering a high-rise with a gun hidden in his bag. That delivery man was actually JD, who had gone there as he believed that Sakshi was hiding there. So basically, JD figured out Sakshi’s location and went there to confront her. But Sakshi got the better of him, and she pushed him from the terrace and killed him. Pratyush stopped picking up Sakshi’s calls and texts until she went to Pratyush’s sister’s house and threatened to hurt them. Pratyush had to agree to whatever she said, as he had no other option. He tried making Sakshi understand that she shouldn’t abandon her family and commit the same mistake that he had made in the past. Pratyush had left his house after he’d had an altercation with his father. His father had been asking him to stop using his mobile for some time, and he’d lost his temper and ended up slapping his father. The guilt of raising his hand against his father broke something inside him. After that day, Pratyush never talked to his father and mother, though he kept meeting his sister time and again. Even after getting to know Pratyush’s entire backstory, Sakshi didn’t have a change of heart.
In Logout‘s ending, Pratyush went to meet JD but found her in his place, and he begged her not to ruin his life. Sakshi told Pratyush that the moment he reached the 10 million follower count, she would shoot him and then take her own life too. Sakshi forced Pratyush to do a viral trend where the person had to take off his pants. Pratyush didn’t want to do it, and during the live stream he broke down in front of the audience. He told them about what he had done to his father and asked them to unfollow him since his life was in danger. But the follower count kept increasing, and Sakshi took the gun that she had stolen from JD and pointed it at Pratyush. Sakshi couldn’t shoot Pratyush because there was a safety lock on the gun. That’s when Pratyush’s mother called, and he heard his phone ringing from a distance. Prattyush found his phone, and at the end smashed it using a hammer. He didn’t harm Sakshi, though he informed the guards and told them about her. I don’t think Pratyush will press charges against her, as he knows that her obsession and her addiction had taken over her rational side. But the entire episode taught Pratyush a lesson. He went to his niece’s school show and met with his father. A boy sitting right behind him photographed the heartfelt moment and uploaded it on his social media account. He saw his likes increasing, and one could feel the same obsession brewing inside him. The ending signified that the addiction to one’s phone was like a chronic illness. Technology was supposed to make our lives easier, but today it is controlling our lives. When Pratyush took the train to go back home, he saw that everybody was busy scrolling. There was no conversation happening between people. Everybody had created their own virtual worlds, and they didn’t feel like getting out of them. It is said that comparison is the thief of joy, and social media makes us compare our lives with the idealistic standards every moment. I am no expert in psychology, and so I don’t know how big a problem this addiction will become in the near future, but one thing that I am sure of is that it will hamper our growth, affect our mental health, steal the real happiness of life, and make our lives miserable.
