Inside Logout: Babil Khan Stars in a Zee5 Thriller on Digital Obsession
In Zee5’s latest thriller Logout, writer Biswapati Sarkar and director Amit Golani deliver a cautionary story about modern digital obsession, content creator culture, and the psychological fallout of influencer-driven lifestyles.
With Babil Khan playing the lead role of Pratyush Dua—better known to fans as “Pratman”—the film dives into the unnerving consequences of a world where validation, relevance, and income depend entirely on virtual presence.
A Creator in Crisis
At just 26, Pratyush Dua is a rising social media star, locked in a race to hit 10 million followers before a rival creator, Ankita. Known for his slogan “Eat, sleep, login, repeat,” Pratyush’s life is engineered around smartphone alerts, brand endorsements, and viral moments. But when he loses his smartphone—his only apparent connection to his online persona—his world quickly spirals out of control.
Rather than immediately taking standard security measures, Pratyush starts making erratic choices: sharing passwords with strangers, ignoring safety protocols, and failing to contact help through other means. This initial panic sets the tone for a larger commentary on how fragile digital dependence can be when faced with disruption.
Screenlife with a Psychological Edge
Director Amit Golani uses “screenlife” techniques—storytelling through device screens and digital interactions—for a large part of the film, mostly set within Pratyush’s NCR apartment. The confined setting amplifies tension, though the film occasionally suffers from visual monotony, particularly in the midsection when momentum slows.
The storytelling is strongest during intense one-on-one interactions, especially between Pratyush and his mysterious stalker Aabha (played by Nimisha Nair), who claims to be his biggest fan. Their relationship evokes themes of parasocial obsession, identity crisis, and the collapsing boundaries between creator and consumer.
Implausibility and Ironies in Babil Khan’s Logout
Despite its sharp critique of social media culture, Logout falters with believability. It’s difficult to buy into a premise where a high-profile influencer depends on a single device and chooses to trust a stranger rather than using nearby resources like neighbors or building staff. These narrative choices strain credibility, especially for a genre grounded in realism and psychological tension.
Ironically, Logout also falls prey to the very second-screen habits it criticizes. As the film lingers on long device conversations with minimal visual variation, it risks losing audience attention—especially during its slower middle act.
Logout Movie – Cast & Performances
The film’s strongest asset is Babil Khan, who brings nuance to a character that veers between arrogance, anxiety, and eventual remorse. His portrayal of Pratyush is entitled and image-obsessed on the surface, yet increasingly vulnerable as he confronts a dangerous breakdown of digital and personal identity.
Supporting actors Gandharv Dewan (as Pratyush’s manager JD) and Rasika Dugal (in a brief but grounded role as his sister) add to the emotional stakes, though this is very much Babil’s film. Atanu Mukherjee’s brisk editing helps maintain pace, especially in the final third when Pratyush begins to piece together the mystery behind his stalker.
Logout is far from flawless, but its themes are timely and urgent. In an age where smartphone addiction and influencer culture dominate everyday behavior, the film successfully holds up a mirror to the audience—asking what happens when your digital life becomes your entire life. Though uneven in execution, Logout is an unsettling reminder that we are, quite literally, what we consume.
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