Kho Gaye Hum Kahan by Arjun Varain Singh is a beautiful, heartwarming, and relatable watch. Co-written by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, the new Netflix film navigates through the life of three childhood best friends – Ahana, Imaad, and Neil. But what makes it worth two and a half hours? I’d say it is the reality check. It makes you realise that we are a lot more than we put up on social media. It reminds us how we need to stop constantly comparing ourselves to the lives of other people with better filters. Starring Ananya Panday, Siddhant Chaturvedi, and Adarsh Gourav, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is streaming now.

The digital age of fillers, filters, and fakeness

Like me, you must wake up every morning hoping to work out and have a productive day. But also like me, do you start your day by scrolling through your social media feed and then getting late for work? Well, we’re all sailing in the same boat and Kho Gaye Hum Kahan makes us realise how we’re losing grip on reality and sinking further into the world of reel-ty.

Ahana Singh (Ananya Panday), Imaad Ali (Siddhant Chaturvedi), and Neil Pereira (Adarsh Gourav) are childhood besties. They, much like all of us, are sucked into the digital world, looking for social media validation. Ahana, an MBA graduate, is dating Rohan who breaks up with her as soon as she starts discussing marriage. He soon ends up with another girl, whom Ahana religiously stalks and compares herself to. This leads to her basing her worth on getting her ex-boyfriend’s validation. And she uses her social media to trick her followers into thinking that she’s moved on and living the dream life.

Imaad Ali is a stand-up comedian with intimacy issues stemming from his childhood. He uses Tinder to escape his real emotions. After all, in the world of situationships and hookups, who cares about emotions and real feelings, right? But when he comes across Simran Kohli (Kalki Koechlin) on Tinder, his perspective starts to shift and he starts developing feelings for her which scares the daylights out of him.

Neil Pereira is a gym trainer who lives with his parents. He is trying to get some followers on social media and is dating a popular influencer who never really makes their relationship public. To get validation and some people to like, share, and subscribe to his content, he tries finding the smallest of ways to appear famous. But in reality, he is just struggling to get fame and uses a fake social media account to troll and bully people who are more successful than him.

KGHK serves as a reminder to connect with people in real life

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan serves as a reminder to keep our phones down and reboot our systems. Stop running for validation from strangers on the internet and start valuing the people sitting across the room. It reminds us to stop basing our worth on the number of likes, shares, and comments on our posts, and start being a little more real. We’re all just one troll away from tarnishing our social lives, but who’s gonna lend us a shoulder to cry on when we need somebody? It’s not gonna be our followers, it is going to be our friends and family, our real tribe.

Ananya, Sidhant, and Adarsh do a tremendous job of being extremely relatable as three besties dealing with life, career, and love, all the while fighting the loneliness of the digital age.

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan makes for the perfect year-end watch. It will make you laugh, maybe keep your phone down, and make an actual plan with your bestie. I know I’m gonna, so bye!

Can you watch it with family?: If you want to feel attacked and want to hear ‘saari museebat hi iss phone ki hai‘ on repeat, go ahead.

Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is now streaming on Netflix.

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