On the film 'Humans in the Loop'

The Loop of Legitimacy and Longing

Aranya Sahay's debut feature asks questions with probing palms and listens closely for answers with attentive ears

When I got an opportunity to watch 'Humans in the Loop' this Sunday, the first thing I noticed was the runtime. There is just something about films with lengths less than 80 mins that instil attention and interest in the viewer. It is like the film is telling you that it is pretty sure of what it wants to say, so you better listen. 

Humans in the Loop exudes a similar confidence but it is not one of those films that hold your hand and make you run across a forest track. It asks you to stop and observe: the wind, the birds, the strange pair of eyes that stare at you with aroused quils, the rocks that breathe and the painted caves that call out to you reminding you how far you have come - how far evolution and civilization has brought you. And once you observe and listen you ask what this 'civilization' actually entails? 

Is it a kowtow to modernity? A sordid surrender to western advancement? A relinquishment of the personal in favour of the professional? An urban vibrance over rural solitude? An acceptance of majoritarian thought? A suppression of empiricism in order to propagate established bias? 

Numerous questions encircle the life of Nehma who struggles to walk the line between what is 'lived' in contrast to what is 'legitimate.' Her estranged husband, her young rebellious daughter, her cute dependent toddler, her reunited childhood friend and her whimsical yet warm mentor/boss -  are all contributing to a churning inside Nehma who has just recently been exposed to Artifical Intelligence as a novice data labeller in a Jharkhand village.

The film talks about myriad themes from colonial bias, tribal identity, motherhood, sustainability, technological empowerment of women and what does the relationship between AI and humanity may look like (when not being its usual adversarial self). But most of all it presents a longing to connect with the living and the non-living and to legitimize that human experience in the larger arc of nature and nurture.