Dive into the mind-bending world of CTRL, where Ananya Panday faces the consequences of her choices as AI takes control of her life! In this exclusive interview, we explore her character's emotional struggles, the implications of technology, and what it means to erase the past. Don’t miss the thrilling insights into this cyber-thriller directed by Vikramaditya Motwane!
#AnanyaPanday #CTRL #AITakesControl #CyberThriller #ExclusiveInterview #VikramadityaMotwane #MovieInsights #ErasingThePast #TechInFilm #Drama #Thriller #FilmPromotion
#AnanyaPanday #CTRL #AITakesControl #CyberThriller #ExclusiveInterview #VikramadityaMotwane #MovieInsights #ErasingThePast #TechInFilm #Drama #Thriller #FilmPromotion
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NewsTranscript
00:00What next from you two brilliant minds?
00:07I have a series called Black Warrant that I've just finished which is now post-production and
00:14there's a documentary I've got on the emergency which is also ready. A lot of us writers and
00:19people are not you know we laugh at some of the stuff that ChadGBT will throw up when you
00:22actually give it prompts to say give me a story about this is this and my friends are trying to
00:26do that and they keep sending me stories on WhatsApp they're like is this any good and I'm
00:30like no it's it's shit because of xyz reason yeah it's it's very scary and um you know um it's I
00:37think we've started this but we also don't know how far it can go we don't know what we've created
00:43you know because AI develops so much faster um than a human brain hi Ananya and hi Vikram
00:49Ananya how much in control are you flying hi it's actually Ananya's year this year
00:55thank you I feel in control ish ish being the operative word
01:03so Vikram you know I had told Ananya this I had met Anurag a few months back and we were just
01:08discussing and he says you haven't seen the best yet it's Vikram's control and Ananya's outdone
01:14herself so I want to ask you the first question I know Ananya she is the face of this generation
01:20but what were your reasons to having her on board as Anurag says because you haven't seen
01:26the best yet so therefore it was about the casting the best oh that's so sweet but you know the
01:36premise is something that we are all living in with yeah you would be thinking of something and
01:40suddenly you open your social media and you have that you know book yourself here are you thinking
01:47that it's how we've all become data so Vikram what was this idea to get this dark gritty cyber
01:54thriller I like the way everybody's resume is already dark and gritty it was it came from other
02:02places I think the just the the intention of doing this this really interesting screen life
02:07kind of format thriller like which is kind of exactly how we're doing it over here we're having
02:10video chats and you know your voyeuristic life of somebody's laptop um was a really interesting way
02:16of telling a story and this story kind of lent itself really well to that and just to sort of
02:20figure out okay how in today's day and age would you use technology or cool things or of course
02:26when we were writing this we it was far away it was in 2020 we felt like we were writing something
02:31for the future we didn't realize this you know this AI development is so fast yeah so now it's
02:37become a documentary um but I think it's it's been I think it's you know the the idea of data
02:47the idea of advertising and stuff has been a conversation now at least in the pop culture
02:52since the social networking where people are like okay do you do it to really share things or do you
02:57do it for profit um I think that's where a lot of the debate's been going on and there's a lot of
03:01been a lot of chatter about yes data leaks and what's actually happening to your data so it just
03:05felt like control is a way of bringing that conversation to the surface but in the guise of
03:10a very fun exciting thriller kind of space and Ananya also you know in your DNA and especially
03:18for your generation your stardom social currency is all around social media because back in the
03:24day when your dad was an actor there was no social media it was all very organic how dependent are
03:30you on social media because you know they say your stardom social currency is directly proportional
03:37to your social media wattage I don't think so actually I think it's very I think it can get
03:43confusing and you know when you're in the thick of social media you can start feeling like this
03:47is the entire world and you know I I've often seen that it doesn't translate to actually people
03:53going in and watching your films so it's a separate thing and I feel like as soon as you start seeing
03:58it as two different worlds you know you can be really popular on social media but then that
04:02doesn't mean that you know it's the same way when people come in to watch your film so I think we
04:06need to separate both of them out and that's what I try to do I try to see my social media audience
04:11as one audience which can help me you know promote my film and read like you know it can reach out
04:17the knowledge that my film is releasing and the trailer and all that stuff through social media
04:21but then to actually get people in to watch your films is the real part of our jobs yeah
04:28you know as I was just it's to the two of you as I was speaking to an actor who said in this day
04:32and age you can't make detective films you also don't have honest reviews because everything is
04:37on social media everything what you do what you don't it's like you have a jury who's waiting
04:44so what do you what is your take personally as individuals on that they can't have like
04:51social media every month what you decide what you do whether you're good whether you're bad
04:56there is a jury sitting here you don't need you people you have these bots for taking control of
05:00your life for sure I think it's like even first I used to feel like okay as actors we have to do
05:06our best to like protect our private lives but I feel like even though I'm trying to do that
05:11somehow or the other you know there there's a certain angle or they're now looking into my
05:16phone from video cameras or you know there was this whole thing where people were took a picture
05:21of Alia when she was sitting in her house you know so it's like where does it stop it's gotten
05:25really really bad now and even if as actors we're trying to draw the line it's not you know being
05:30respected the other way so I don't really know what to say in the situation because it's it's
05:36gotten really really intrusive and invasive and the more time that's passing it's getting even
05:42worse. Vikram, what do you have to say and also with this AI we had the whole writer's strike
05:47and also you know whether the other day somebody told me
05:57what do you ask how challenging is it really as creators?
06:02It is look it is I mean so to your first question I think social media is yes there is a jury
06:08sitting out there all the time but what happens with social media also the tendencies are because
06:11it can become an echo chamber because the people you follow the people you don't want to follow
06:16there's always like there is in a sense like there's right wing and left wing I think even
06:20on social media there's like you're either this side or this side I think there's a sense of like
06:23which which side you of things you yes when you if you're going to reading comments and so on and so
06:28forth there's but you can choose to do none of those things and still stay within social media
06:32and still stay very kind of like protected in a sense which can be a good thing if if that's what
06:38you want but can also be it also just keeps you close to actually some real voices so it's a bit
06:43of a it's a tricky kind of scene on so on the AI front yeah I mean look right now a lot of
06:52a lot of us writers and people are not you know we laugh at some of the stuff that ChadGBT will
06:56throw up when you actually give it prompts to say give me a story about this is this and and my
07:00friends are trying to do that and they keep sending me stories on on whatsapp they're like is this any
07:04good and I'm like no it's shit because of xyz reason all that kind of stuff but we're laughing
07:10now but once there's enough learning kind of done to this where you can prompt it in the right sort
07:14of way there is a genuine sort of situation where yes AI can not only help you with making things
07:21better but actually sort of end up creating things for you there's already a situation where
07:24the photographs we see we don't know how much of it is actually AI inside it's becoming better and
07:29better you know every year man and the rate at which the technology is getting better and growing
07:36it's it's it's going to be it's going to be quite a it's going to be quite a game changer coming so
07:40yeah the question here is how do we how do we control it how do we how do we put the how do
07:45we put effective I think just you know gates to be able to make sure that it's not they're not
07:51it's not barging through all at once. Ananya do you fear AI because I've seen a lot of your
07:57colleagues or your seniors the whole deep fake thing and then also you have AI anchors you have
08:02AI artists who are now part of music bands do you sometimes just feel that somebody just an AI would
08:08just replace me something yeah yeah yeah it's it's very scary and you know it's I think we've
08:16started this but we also don't know how far it can go we don't know what we've created you know
08:21because AI develops so much faster than a human brain that's what's called artificial intelligence
08:27so we've created this humans have only created it but I think that we've lost control of it or we
08:31will be losing control of it in the near future so yeah I think before it gets even worse I think
08:36there needs to be like protection laws or there needs to be something created so that people are
08:41safeguarded because it can get really, really dark really soon. True. Now coming to the two of
08:46you since it's your first time collaboration I want to know what was the energy like how did
08:51you feed off each other and what was the one thing that you enjoyed working that you discovered about
08:56Vikram and Vikram discovered about Ananya that he didn't know? For me first. Always.
09:04I think so the reason and I cast Ananya because I really, really loved her work in Gera Hiya I thought she was
09:12phenomenal I thought she was very present very in the you know like and and and maybe this is part
09:18of the stuff where there is this whole and which the media is fed in fact a nepotism and so on and
09:23so forth so you're already walking in with a certain preconceived notion about you want to walk
09:27and it's wonderful when your preconceived notion is broken completely and I think that's what
09:31happened in Gera Hiya that was completely like shattered and I was like wow she's great and so
09:37when I was making Control I like I you know called Shakun actually that's like tell me tell me what's
09:44tell me what's the scene and he had nothing but amazing things to say about her and then
09:48and that's what I found like on the set like she she got it she was working hard she is nervous
09:54and that's a great thing she wanted to really sort of like do well and that's a great thing and
09:58in the it's like it's it's it's she she takes instructions you know like really well which
10:03which is like barely there it's like I try to just make this set as comfortable as possible for her
10:07to work in and like just throw it and I'll go do stuff and I'll just come in and what was the
10:12thing you said I'll be Google Maps
10:19and for me I think obviously even I had my preconceived notions that I was working with
10:24like Vikram Aditya Motwani and he's going to be a specific way and he's going to be very
10:29um you know it's not going to be a set where I can contribute I can you know collaborate with
10:34him because obviously you know he's done so much amazing work so I was nervous coming onto the set
10:39but from the get-go he always um you know valued my opinion and actually asked for my opinion
10:44in everything which is really nice as a young actor you know to feel like you're a part of
10:49something not just you know to be in front of the camera so even when they had the writer's retreat
10:54he took me along for one day and he asked me you know how my generation functions and how I feel
11:00like you know I would react in a situation like this so you know it felt very collaborative and
11:04he always made it very um known to us that you know it was his first time also doing something
11:10like this because I feel like every film that he does he's always taking a risk you know it's never
11:15like okay he's never safe um and that kind of keeps everyone also on their toes and everyone
11:20feels like you know they're learning something together so that you know that environment of
11:24collaboration and just being very immersive he created that really really well and I think what
11:29I discovered about him is that he's as awkward as I am so now we don't even like need to talk
11:34in words it's always like facial expressions oh yeah you do know working with him always marks
11:40a turning point in an actor's career yeah it's a Aditi it's always a turning point yeah my mom
11:47met Rajkummar Rao at a dinner like I think a couple of months ago and he literally told my
11:52mom that Trapped changed everything for me and I'm so happy that you know Ananya is getting a
11:56chance to work with Vikram sir you know what Vikram also said and which I have also noticed
12:01and I've told you you know in your case you walk that very thin line where if you do you're damned
12:06if you don't you are damned how have you managed to navigate it or do you still feel that there
12:12are those who will still not believe how what I'm capable of there'll always be people I think
12:18saying all sorts of things you know no matter what you do people will say something so I think
12:23it's best to just like keep your head down and work because you can't please everyone all the
12:27time you know you're not ice cream people don't even like ice cream so even ice cream can't
12:32please everyone so yeah there's no point trying to please everyone but you've totally owned the
12:37space right totally I mean yeah I mean I guess with OTT you're getting to do a lot more
12:44experimental work and that pressure of you know the release date and the numbers is off but I do
12:49want to also you know have my theatrical releases as well so yeah I'm looking for that back Vikram
12:55I mean coming to what she also said I mean there is this onslaught actually overkill of old releases
13:02and you know the analysts and then again the jury is out saying
13:09what is your take on this what do you think is the need of the hour do you think the industry
13:14needs to go through a recalibration and you know it already is going through a recalibration I
13:20think what what is what is what's what we've seen actually in the last two years ever since
13:24the recovery post-pandemic is the fact that yes being a star is important and having a star in
13:30your film will take it to the next level as long as the film is good and as long as it's exciting
13:35I think what has changed since pre-pandemic is that you you can't get an opening for a film that
13:40is just not going to you know it that is not going to be good there was no going to be no
13:44excitement if there's no excitement to go see a film people are not going to go into it it doesn't
13:48matter who the movie star is and I think that's something that's been shown probably that yes it
13:52has to be good so that recalibration is happening I think there is a move that's happening a lot
13:56towards a more genre type space action comedy horror horror comedy movies like crew which is
14:04like you know almost borderline heist films and so there is that like let's go have fun on the
14:09big screen let's go have let's go see something really spectacular something that's going to be
14:13a very collective kind of thing yes unfortunately some of the films have to drop on the wayside the
14:19indies are virtually dead in the in cinema but I think the recalibration is in a is a good thing
14:25that's happening for for the I think the next couple of years you'll see and you see this now
14:29refining itself into you know and there's also a sense of diversity I mean you can end up seeing
14:34the fact that a street and animal are both such different films and yet have done so much business
14:40put together with a Jawan or a Pathana Singh also automatically you see that there is a certain
14:44amount of diversity which is in the market for so there's no one-size-fits-all which is great
14:49I really like that but Vikram how has your process changed over the years I mean from the time you're
14:55first to now so you know I'm the kind of kid who grew up watching a lot of like James Cameron
15:06films and like Terminator, Terminator 2, Die Hard, Back to the Future like these were my sort of
15:11bread and butter kind of like as a kid and as a teenager and then you had the 90s where you
15:18suddenly had guys like Quentin Tarantino and you know Danny Boyle and Christopher Nolan coming up
15:22and making their movies and and we were the DVD generation we suddenly discovered all our cinema
15:28through DVDs and LDs and you know and then and then I was like oh let's go and see all these
15:32kind of movies but we could never kind of make those films in India, India since you always had
15:38to sort of like you always had to have okay you want to make that you can't do sci-fi you can't
15:43do this you can't do big action you always have to kind of temper it into the one-size-fits-all
15:47I think that has changed and now is a good time to sort of like you know make those kind of movies
15:51I believe over here so I feel that yes I also want to do theatrical stuff big ticket kind of
15:59theatrical stuff which I think is like a great time for doing the kind of stuff that I really
16:04grew up on that I really love right now so that's why I've been doing things which I whether in the
16:09genre space whether it's control whether it's trapped whether it's AK versus AK you know which
16:14which you can have fun with and they are quirky and they're interesting and they sort of pushing
16:19pushing the envelope and pushing the right buttons and then in the series world it's like doing the
16:23big ticket series stuff which is also great and I love that series world I love doing I love
16:28watching series and therefore you also like making that kind of stuff so I'm trying to just find that
16:32and it's fun just balancing doing whatever I feel like. I like the way he's just like cool
16:36jaise aara take it as it comes really nice that's the attitude but Ananya tell me something as a
16:41young actor you have managed to like pick up there's a gheraiyaan, there's a kho gheraiyaan kahaan
16:46you've got control you did a bay do you feel somewhere there's also a gender genre bias
16:52because you know I just would love to see you doing a Lara Croft like thing that is unless you
16:56want to do it or not but you know or do like a comedy do an action do you think somewhere
17:01wo bias hai ki abhi hum aap maari industry mein no I think I think it's just about timing honestly
17:09because there are you know people who are doing that you know if you take I mean I can't at the
17:16top of my head I mean I just saw the Jigra trailer and I saw Alia doing action in it and I'm like
17:20okay it's not the typical Lara Croft thing but it's so cool that Alia is getting to do action
17:25she's doing Alpha with Sharwari as well where they will be doing the action so I think it's just
17:29about the correct opportunity coming and I think people are making those kinds of films and this
17:34is the kind of films I'm doing right now I think I'm maybe filmmakers because of my age or because
17:40of maybe my my personality on social media I'm gravitating towards issues that concern technology
17:48and social media which I also think is very relevant because you know it's it's kind of
17:52defining our generation right now you know and it's important to talk about these issues and
17:58it's it's impossible nowadays to create a love story and not have you know even little bit of
18:03social media in it because it is affecting all our relationships especially people our age
18:08so yeah I think that's just what's happening right now but I think it'll change very soon also I
18:12think as soon as I do something in that genre then people will only see me as that so you know
18:16I'm trying to it's actually just about the opportunity and getting that opportunity and
18:20that's why I'm I'm being a little patient and slow with the things that I'm choosing next.
18:26So now asking about what her character does Vikram now this is two of you if you could create an app
18:31and remove something from your life it will do that one thing if you could just
18:35both of you could create an app and remove some aspect. I think I would just remove like filters
18:40in general you know just like extra editing of things and just keep it more real on social media.
18:47What about you Vikram? I can't say what I would really like to remove in life but
18:55I guess broadly it would end up becoming just lies I just think that there is something there's
19:01there's a lot and I think that the whether it's media whether it's social media I think there's a
19:04lot of what really is the truth anymore is kind of like something that it's your truth or my
19:10truth and I just feel that that sort of like ends up making it so I just would like to make this
19:15very deep. There are a lot of things that we would want to do but what is the one thing that you
19:21discovered about yourselves through your social media algorithm like in my case I only have
19:26doggies only dogs come up. I have a lot of cooking videos and like uh yeah cooking videos come up
19:33a lot for me and that pygmy hippo has been coming up a lot on my have you seen Mudang?
19:41Yeah, so that's always on me. I get football and dogs these are the two things that land up on my
19:46because we have again we have a retriever so this constantly then because we keep sharing
19:49retriever videos with with each other there's like that starts and now we feed in and football
19:54because that's what I'm crazy about.
19:57Also another aspect of making this film green screen how challenging is that really Ananya
20:02because when you're emoting to a green screen also how challenging and how challenging is it
20:07also for you because there's so much of technology involved.
20:09I mean honestly I've acted with a tennis ball also so I mean I don't mind it that difficult
20:15uh but on this film it wasn't the case because there was actually I don't think I ever acted
20:19with a green screen at all yeah the way they created this film it was actually like this
20:24room call and um the Apar Shakti who's the voice of Alan he was sitting in another room and there
20:29was a mid app that converted him automatically into an AI so it was like I was always talking
20:36to an AI version um so yeah it was never a green screen even though FaceTime conversation the actor
20:42was actually calling me from another room and we were having it was like acting with someone
20:46standing in front of me so it never felt like there was a like a green screen or any you know
20:52special effects in that way.
20:53Are you anything like your character?
20:56Um I think in similar situations to my character I don't think I'm a lot like her because she's
21:02very, very reactive um she's a lot more um thrashed in the way she speaks um she is yeah
21:09and she's a little more out there than I am I think Ananya I'm a lot more shy but situationally
21:14I think the way Nela feels um you know like the whole world is watching her and you know she
21:19feels embarrassed because of that I feel like I've felt those things in life yeah.
21:25So Vikram I mean the challenge of making a film like this because you know there's a lot involved
21:30also but it also gives an immersive it's an immersive experience actually basically an
21:34immersive experience.
21:36Yeah absolutely and that's what we wanted to make it for Ananya when we were shooting so
21:40as she said like when we were so it's all happening on the screen there's a control
21:44app which is her talking to the AI characters other things happening the erasing is actually
21:48happening on that one you know at the same time so we had up our we had the AI talking
21:53to her like she's talking to an AI everything was happening live there were prompts that
21:56we were feeding it into a computer so she could actually she was doing all the searching
22:00herself she was doing all the typing herself it became immersive for her but also from
22:04an audience perspective you know it starts to become very immersive because it is voyeuristic
22:08it's like watching the screen right now you're like I'm talking so the green thing is on but
22:12you're focusing on that or I'm focusing on you um I think uh so one is that we made it
22:17very easy for that and then two is afterwards the wonderful part of this it's so easy to
22:22shoot these things you put that on and you put a camera on top of it so you have all
22:26your footage is individual you can all put it together you can speed it up you can slow
22:30it down um and then later is where the filmmaking really happens afterwards there was no one
22:35like shot breakdown before that saying okay long shot close-up the long shot close-up
22:38came after we even shot the whole thing then we're like okay fine long shot and now someone
22:42was talking now let's go close up there let's move from here to there which was quite fun
22:46it's very liberating also you know to not have to worry about those things it was more about
22:52working with the actors and just the actors you know so you're just really focusing in that
22:56moment and again for me it's the collaboration of working with an Ananya or with a
23:02Samukhi Suresh or with people who are in fact my a lot of people my costume designer my production
23:09designer would always be like but you don't say anything I'm like what am I going to say I'm not
23:13like this is for y'all to sort of like it's not a film where one is designing it from a palette
23:18and a look and all that sort of stuff it's not that film the you know like like the not worse
23:25but I'm saying the more organic it looks the more the less designed it looks the better it is so
23:31I'm like I'm not going to say anything y'all come and say you want those costumes by all means put
23:34those questions you want that that wall at the back put that wall in the back I'm not going to
23:38say yes or no and that must be liberating also to work like that with someone who's not coming
23:44with so much of baggage extra I mean but having said that also Vikram sir was very certain about
23:51what he wanted and we workshopped also quite a bit and it was always a discussion always a
23:57conversation and it felt very personal for some reason because even after the take would be over
24:03firstly I would be alone in the room doing the take and then it would be long log takes of like
24:0720-25 minutes and then after that Vikram sir would come and he'd say one two things and we'd
24:11have a discussion about it and then that's it and then it moved on it wasn't like
24:16it was just very personal oh and when you watch the film I think that you would get that feeling
24:20also it's very intimate and personal. Thank you so much so now what next from you two brilliant minds
24:30I have a series called Black Warrant that I've just finished which is now post-production
24:38and there's a documentary I've got on the emergency which is also ready so these two
24:42things and then I'm planning I'm going to make at least two films next year so
24:46wow I'm busy busy I'm going to continue. I have a theatrical release finally next year that's
24:54coming early next year which hasn't been announced yet I don't know why I've been doing forever
24:59they've not announced it so everyone already knows what it is but yeah that's coming next
25:03and then I just finalized something that I want to work on next so yeah I'm going to start that
25:08which has also not been announced yet but hopefully I can talk about it next time.
25:11And the times of Ananya Pandey are here and thank you Vikram always looking forward to what you make
25:16because it always does throw out some very pertinent and poignant points of the times
25:21that we live in so all the very best both of you thank you so much. Thank you. Bye.
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