Thoughts on Kho Gaye Hum Kahan
Quietly affecting.
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is the story of three friends and how each of them is dealing with their dependence on technology and ironically finding themselves more alienated from the world. There is Ahana whose scumbag boyfriend breaks up with her at the beginning of the story, and in a desperate bid to reconnect with him, she stalks him on social media and manipulates her own online persona. There is Imaad who is a commitment-phobe and Tinder addict, dealing with childhood traumas that have made him incapable of forming long term relationships. Then there is Neil who is a gym trainer wanting to open his own studio, and how he depends on social media to get traction and relevance. Also, he is dating the influencer Lala who wishes to keep their relationship a secret in order to appear more accessible to her followers. How things escalate, reach a crescendo and eventually resolve, is the crux of the story.
Now, I found the story quietly affecting. Even though I knew about the iceberg like nature of social media and the people on it, having an explicit canvas held up to me really helped drive the point home; how people show you a percentage of who they truly are and the lives they are leading on social media, but deep down they are dealing with soul crushing issues and have to compromise daily on their values in order to reach their goals, be that a person trying to get their boyfriend back, or an influencer trying to build a career for herself.
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An older friend in his early 40s watched the movie and absolutely abhorred it because he may have found it difficult to connect with the material and the struggles of the characters, but I found the movie quite compelling, although arguably paper thin in a few places too.
Coming to the performances, credit where its due, Ananya Pandey really does knock it out of the park as Ahana. Her performance actually felt like a lived-in character and she brings a good amount of depth and pathos. Maybe this is the real AP and what we see in interviews is a caricature. Siddhant as Imaad also does well in his part as a stand-up comic, bringing the chuckles and emotions in equal measure. Imaad’s jokes were really funny and not at all cringe like many other standup acts within movies are. The weakest was Neil for me. Adarsh Gourav does well in the role, but beyond having to look buff and fit, he does not have much of an arc. Anya Singh is also very good as Lala, an influencer deeply aware she is living in a fake reality but will do anything to survive. Ahana, Imaad and Neil’s friendship seemed genuine and organic, and thankfully the makers did away with the trope of unreciprocated romantic crush between two friends.
There is a very prophetic song called “Prithibi” by a Bengali band called Mohiner Ghoraguli, the lyrics of which talk about despite technological advancements humans are being driven further away from each other. We are even more far away from each other than the lights years distance between the stars. This movie very deeply echoed that idea for me.
There are a couple of plot shortcomings which took me out of the story. Despite how Neil commits identity theft and basically ruins the life of a person out of spite, he is still let off easy without any consequences for his actions, and the person whose life he ruins, seems to have empathised with the motivations for his actions. Also, Imaad’s trauma and his way of dealing with it was a bit simplistic and reductive, and the resolution was unrealistic, but I guess still cathartic nevertheless.
In the end, KGHK was one of the better movies that I have seen in a while.
