‘Logout’ review: The fallout of digital dependence

There are two sides to digital media influencer connections. The first is the connection created by these influencers—designed, manufactured, marketed, finessed, and posted on their socials. These are aimed at gaining likes, shares, and follows, all to increase the creator’s relevance and brand value. On the other side of the mobile device screen, someone else is consuming this content—often obsessively, even addictively. Writer Biswapati Sarkar’s script for Logout (Zee5) is a cautionary tale that examines how an alarming number of subscribers are entrapped by their ‘cell’ phones.

At the centre of this thriller is Pratyush Dua (Babil Khan), a 26-year-old content creator and influencer known to his fans as Pratman. His mantra: “Eat, sleep, login, repeat.” This is a world where building security guards are so absorbed in a cricket match that they barely register which visitors enter or leave the high-rise. Pratyush, who rarely takes his eyes off his smartphone, is in a race with fellow creator Ankita to see who will reach 10 million followers first. The winner would be guaranteed lucrative brand promotion deals and collaborations.

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The opening scene is a foreshadowing of things to come. It’s easy to connect the dots between the drama, the mobile ringtone, the vegan brand hoarding featuring Pratman with its catchphrase “You are what you consume,” and the film’s beats.

When Pratman loses his smartphone, he also loses his smarts—randomly sharing passwords with a stranger even before trying the ‘find my phone’ function or logging out his device from his desktop. He’s more desperate for 10 million followers and continued relevance than he is concerned with protecting his data.

Director Amit Golani uses screenlife storytelling techniques for parts of the film, as a large portion of the drama unfolds in Pratyush’s apartment. The plot begins to unravel during the one-on-one confrontations. The filmmaking becomes unimaginative in the midsection. There isn’t much to keep you visually engaged, and suddenly Logout becomes a victim of its own hubris. It’s not enough to just listen to two or three characters talking through devices. Ironically, this is when Logout falls prey to second-screen viewing habits.

Logout adopts survival drama shades, but it’s hard to suspend disbelief that the doorbell never rings in this NCR apartment, or that Pratyush relies solely on one phone. It’s implausible that someone who loses such a vital device—their livelihood and a repository of secrets—would trust a stranger rather than borrow a neighbour or watchman’s phone, or send emails to raise the alarm. The social media celebrity, at the mercy of “his biggest fan,” who calls herself Aabha (Nimisha Nair), oscillates between inflated ego and a growing awareness of a fatal attraction. Eventually, the young man wises up and begins solving the mystery behind his stalker.

There’s also mentions of mental health, the modern problem of digital dependence, and the resulting human disconnect. Rasika Dugal makes a special appearance as Babil’s older sister, while Gandharv Dewan plays Pratman’s manager, JD. Logout is a lean film—few actors, few locations, and mostly Babil Khan. Atanu Mukherjee’s editing moves the 108-minute movie along briskly, while Khan holds your attention on screen. He is Pratman—arrogant, stylish, entitled, insecure, validation-seeking, remorseful—and he adeptly transitions through myriad shifting emotions.

The panic of losing a mobile phone is relatable: partly because we no longer remember phone numbers, partly because it holds our passwords, and also because—how else do we get OTPs?

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