How much of your life revolves around your phone and social media? Do you measure yourself against an unattainable standard set by an influencer? How much of your time with friends is spent with all of you on your phones? These are the questions that Arjun Varain Singh’s Kho Gaye Hum Kahan leaves you with at the end of its 2 hour 15 minutes runtime. But it does more than that.

The Netflix flick, with its shallow deep approach, presents our reality in the increasingly digital world: we live more in our phones than in our realities.

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan shows the hold the internet has on us

Netflix’s latest is full of heart. After assisting Zoya Akhtar in Gully Boy, director Arjun Varain Singh made a debut with Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, with a script written by him and Akhtar alongside Reema Kagti and Yash Sahai. The film follows three childhood friends Ahana (Ananya Pandey), Imaad (Siddhant Chaturvedi), and Neil (Adarsh Gourav) in their mid-20s navigating friendship, love, heartbreak, and an addiction to social media.

“I don’t know when we stopped having real conversations,” asks Ahana and the frame zooms out to show three childhood friends in the same room, all occupied in their phones. This is easily the most accurate frame to depict friendships today where we spend more time tagging and DM-ing each other memes than having a heart-to-heart. In yet another scene in the film, Kalki Koechlin’s Simran passingly utters one of the key messages of the film: the increased connectivity has created an illusion of closeness when we have never been lonelier.

Driving the nail into Kho Gaye Hum Kahan‘s ultimate take on social media addiction as key points in our three main characters’ journey. Be it Ahana’s inability to stop checking on her ex, Imaad’s obsessive and borderline escapist run at Tinder, or Neil’s constant frustration and persistent attempts around his lack of luxury. But one thing that helps all of it happen is the acting prowess.

Cast and characters shine, as Ananya Pandey shows growth as an actor

Imaad, one of our three leads, played by Siddhant Chaturvedi, is our voice of reason, albeit a little judgemental when it comes to social media addiction, but he has his own addictions. He may not be obsessed with an ex’s status updates or an influencer’s ideal life, but he certainly cannot control the urge to hide his problems behind Tinder swipes and hookups. Imaad’s escapist nature is reminiscent of Chaturvedi’s Zain in Gehraiyaan, also set in Mumbai and starring Ananya Pandey.

Pandey herself plays a role not very different from her Tia in the Deepika Padukone starrer. Just like Tia, Ahana blindly trusted her partner and constantly fought for his attention. The difference? The latter has more to her character than an emotionally stunted man’s loving girlfriend. In what is probably a career-best performance, Pandey has given it her all in this film, nailing the sheer dependability her character experiences throughout the film.

Adarsh Gourav’s Neil completes the friendship trio reminiscent of Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Neil is someone who wants more from life than what he currently has. Partly, this desire for the nicer things in life stems from his consumption of influencer content on social media. After stunning the audience in The White Tiger, Gourav does wonders with this role, justifying it at every point.

Supporting characters include Simran, played by Koechlin, who becomes Imaad’s primary love interest but also his compass to vulnerability. Koechlin and Chaturvedi showcase an effortless chemistry that will have the audience root for their pairing to work out. Never Kiss Your Best Friend fame Anya Singh, who plays Neil’s influencer client and love interest, Lala, and Rohan Gurbaxani, who plays Ahana’s ex, Rohan, are other notable supporting characters. Each of them played their parts to perfection.

The characters and their journey create a story that resonates with those in their 20s and figuring out life. But a relatively shallow approach and convenient ending throws a wrench in things.

A shallow depth and an easy ending hinder Kho Gaye Hum Kahan

The intentions of the director are clear in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan: a story about people and their obsession with their phones. The intended impact is achieved in the movie, but two out of three characters remain rather two-dimensional. By the end of the movie, we know why Imaad is emotionally stunted. But we never quite understand where Ahana’s need for external validation stems from or the origins of Neil’s inferiority complex. Instead, both get a half-baked explanation based on social media addiction and through expositions.

Neil, Imaad, and Ahana’s decades-long friendship also does not get enough exploration. Why did the three characters choose to not communicate things directly? How did they remain so connected and yet so disconnected? This one got a standard answer for this film: addiction to phones (an Indian parent’s go-to reason for anything that goes wrong). Despite it all, the film and this friendship do have some heart to get those tears spilling.

The end, itself, however, over-emphasizes the messaging with drawn-out monologues from Imaad and Ahana. It beats the purpose of the film by showing an ideal and easy ending to their stories (through the narration of an Instagram post) as if digital addiction was something you can beat in a day, resulting in a happy and fulfilled life almost instantly. If it were that easy, the digital wellness industry would not be booming right now, would it?

Verdict: Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is a cozy watch for the winter, rife with heartwarming friendships, brilliant acting, reality checks, effortless chemistry, and some mid-level jokes from frequent stand-up sets. Oh, did we mention the refreshing music?