To promote his film Logout, a cautionary tale about smartphone addiction and the perils of online fame, Babil Khan turned to Instagram, posting a ‘cryptic post’ before deleting it—an all-too-common marketing ploy. It’s one of the self-defeating ironies of the genre. Bollywood—and streaming platforms—are in no position to preach. They depend as much on social media as the nervy, shut-in influencers they depict. They bait, patronise and actively profiteer from the same economy. And like everyone else, they collect data.
One assumes to connect with a Gen-Z audience that cannot be bothered to give anyone their attention, a horde of writers-filmmakers are trying to crack that “social media waali” script.
Most attempts you see on your screens are, to borrow from internet speak, cringe.
The one we’re talking about today, has the promise of breaking that clutter, if it weren’t just so desperate.
Logout movie review: The Babil Khan starrer uses its self-aware lead well enough while expanding on its premise, but forgets that ‘content creators’ talking about ‘creation of content’ risk sounding like pedants.
