Babil Khan shines in Logout, a psychological techno-thriller directed by Amit Golani. Blending digital dread with emotional depth, the film explores the darker side of influencer culture. Streaming now on ZEE5.
In Logout, director Amit Golani crafts a suspenseful, single-location thriller that feels unsettlingly relevant. The movie doesnât chase the sci-fi dystopia of Black Mirror or the flashy tropes of tech-based thrillers. Instead, it zooms in on something far more familiarâour ever-growing dependence on digital validation and how dangerously entangled our real lives are with our virtual ones.
With a restrained screenplay by Biswapati Sarkar and a compelling lead performance by Babil Khan, Logout on ZEE5 taps into the psychological fallout of being always onlineâand what happens when the device that holds your entire life falls into the wrong hands.
Pratyush aka âPratmanâ (Babil Khan) is a 20-something social media influencer with 9.8 million followers and one missionâhit 10 million before his rivals. He lives in a high-tech smart house where everything is voice-controlled, and his phone is practically an extension of his body.
One morning, he wakes up to find his phone missing. Soon, a teenage fangirl hacks into his digital life, using his secrets and online presence to manipulate him. What follows is a digital siegeâa suspense-filled cat-and-mouse game, all within the confines of his home. Itâs not ghosts that haunt him, but glitches, buzzing speakers, and flickering lightsâ21st-century horrors.
Logout explores multiple themes, including:
The illusion of digital control: Pratyush believes he owns his online image, but heâs merely a product of it.
The toxicity of influencer culture: Truth becomes expendable when clicks and likes drive value.
Psychological entrapment: A literal and metaphorical rat trap mirrors how Pratyush is caught in a web of his own making.
The phone acts as a modern-day voodoo dollâevery tap, leak, and hack carries the potential to destroy someoneâs life and reputation.
Babil Khan is the emotional anchor of Logout. His portrayal of Pratyush swings from digital bravado to raw vulnerability. Initially, youâre annoyed by his superficiality, but as the story progresses and the layers peel away, Babil exposes the insecurity, grief, and loneliness buried under his influencer mask.
In one of the filmâs most powerful moments, he breaks down crying in front of a dreamlike version of his father. Itâs hard not to draw parallels with Babilâs real-life connection to his late father, Irrfan Khan. For a moment, reality and fiction blurâcreating a scene that feels deeply authentic and heartbreakingly human.
Director Amit Golani keeps things tight and atmospheric. The use of the smart home as a setting is cleverânot just because itâs visually sleek, but because it represents Pratyushâs self-contained world. As things spiral out of control, the lighting and sound design follow suitâgiving us a physical sense of digital anxiety.
This isn’t a film full of jump scares or loud background scores; itâs more interested in slow burns, psychological tension, and unsettling silence.
Biswapati Sarkar does an excellent job writing characters who are not just symbolic but believable. The story critiques influencer hypocrisy (like claiming to be vegan for brand deals) but also shows the vulnerability of these online personas. The antagonistâa faceless fangirlâisnât just a villain but a product of the same broken system of parasocial relationships and toxic fandom.
Babil Khanâs deeply emotional performance
Unique blend of thriller and social commentary
Clever use of single-location setting
Taut direction and minimal yet impactful visuals
Powerful metaphors like the rat trap
Some metaphorical moments feel too on-the-nose
May feel slow-paced for those expecting a conventional thriller
Lack of background on the antagonistâs motivations
Rating: â
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Logout is a tense, emotionally resonant thriller that smartly critiques our over-reliance on the digital world. With a riveting central performance by Babil Khan and thoughtful writing that explores both horror and humanity, this ZEE5 original is worth logging into.
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