“We are so obsessed staring at the screen these days that we didn’t realize life has gone past us,” laments Ananya Panday’s Ahaana in a poignant second in Arjun V Singh’s “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan.” The hustle of dwelling from one publish to a different, fixed life updates, and the thirst for validation from the numerous faceless followers on social media are maybe the story of our lives.
Debutante Director Arjun V Singh takes us into the world of three greatest pals. Imaad (Siddhant Chaturvedi) is a stand-up comedian with a happy-go-lucky angle in the direction of each state of affairs, together with his courting life. If not on stage, he’s busy swiping left and proper on Tinder, the courting app. Ahaana (Ananya Panday) is Imaad’s flatmate, a whiz who’s in a long-term relationship along with her boyfriend, whom she hopes to marry. Then there may be Neil (Adarsh Gourav), a gymnasium coach who aspires to have his studio sometime. Like any common 25-year-old, they’re following their ardour, working exhausting, and partying more durable.
Introspection of life occurs over a number of bottles of beer; they preserve no secrets and techniques from one another, or do they? Even although their dad and mom don’t perceive their mindset—Imaad’s wealthy father asks him to start out working within the household’s enterprise, whereas Neil fails to know the penny-pinching mindset of his working-class dad and mom, who inform him that he doesn’t know the distinction between want and wish. Ahaana, a superb skilled with fancy levels and medals to her credit score, is a pushover who will get walked over by her boss in addition to her boyfriend.
But we reside in a world the place FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a factor. Keeping it non-public, maintaining it actual are passé. If it isn’t on social media, then it might as effectively not exist. We have given the ceremony of passage into our lives to strangers and other people we’re unlikely to satisfy since a thumbs up or down from them is what could make or break us. Take Ahaana; her heartbreak after getting dumped by her boyfriend is additional amplified when she realizes his new girlfriend has over one million followers.
The uncertain Ahana creates a pretend account to stalk her boyfriend and begins placing out pleased and attractive touched-up footage of herself on Instagram to show her life continues to rock. Imaad, then again, who flits from one fling to a different, meets an older and wiser lady (Kalki Koechelin), however being commitment-phobic, continues to see different girls. Neil, who’s courting his consumer LaLa (Anya Singh), an influencer, can not perceive her obsession with filtered photos and eager to be always seen. One day, when he will get a celeb consumer who places out a publish with him, seeing his followers climbing up, Neil finds this as a shortcut to success. After all, the numerous followers on social media are straight proportional to your success.
The three sucked into the abyss of the unfathomable digital world see not solely their friendship however their very own identification as individuals being destroyed. Who are we? Are we so determined to be seen that we will destroy ourselves and people round us?
What Works
Arjun V Singh offers a powerful and uncooked narrative of our occasions. He will get the message throughout merely: how social media engagement makes us susceptible to manipulation. Humans are low on emotional quotient however excessive on compulsive scrolling. Siddhant Chaturvedi is a pure and is on level in his portrayal of Imaad, who’s shrouding his emotional baggage beneath a cocksure angle. Adarsh Gourav is pitch-perfect as Neil, getting beneath the pores and skin of his character with ease. Ananya suits in as Ahaana and is relatable in all points. This is one in every of her greatest performances to this point. The friendship between the three is actual and resonates as they rib one another, battle, and make up. The darkish world of social media is succinctly introduced out by the darkish purple and black shade palette.
