Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Just 74-minutes long, the film ‘Humans in the Loop’ follows young tribal woman Nehma (Sonal Madhushankar), as she returns to her village in Jharkhand and takes up a job at a AI data centre, so she can support her toddler Guntu and preteen daughter Dhaanu (Ridhima Singh), and not lose custody to the father.

‘Humans in the Loop’ primarily focuses on Nehma’s struggles to adapt to the new job which involves training AI by tagging images, while also dealing with a rebellious Dhaanu, who is unhappy in the village and would rather live with her father in capital city Ranchi. Mysterious flashbacks show Nehma’s life as a young tribal girl, along with her unique relationship with the forest and its animals.

At work, Nehma is taught ‘AI is like a child, and we teach it to differentiate between things’. In subtle irony, Nehma begins to understand the AI better than her own child, although she does come around to realizing her responsibilities as a parents towards the end, to deliver a pretty convenient ‘happy ending’.

While the film’s look at how young women in India are working to shape AI at data centers for foreign companies (thanks to the cheap labor of course) offers a unique perspective. However, the other elements of ‘Humans in the Loop’ don’t mesh well. Nehma’s separation from her husband, her fraught relationship with her daughter, and a mystical connection to the forest, pitted against the AI tagging job, feels a little forced in the 74 minute runtime. Nehma might be trying to connect to her roots, but her daughter feels completely uprooted.

‘Humans in the Loop’ conveniently overlooks the fact that Nehma is an irresponsible parent, she vanishes for years, leaving her daughter behind, only to return and tear her away from the father who actually raised her. On top of that, she expects the young Dhaanu to babysit the baby through the day, indicating the lack of support system in a village she grew up in.

Yes, Nehma tries her best to provide, but why should her daughter bear the consequences of her reckless decisions? Parents make terrible choices all the time, that’s fine, but the film forgives and even idealizes her. In real life, rebuilding trust with an estranged parent, especially one who remains distant and relocates their child to a place where they feel alien, would never be so simple.

Sonal Madhushankar portrays Nehma with conviction, and it is certainly refreshing to see Humans in Loop deliver a lead who looks relatable and isn’t glamorized in any way for the cameras. In Nehma, one can see the image of a relatable working woman facing different challenges. Ridhima Singh as Dhaanu also delivers a memorable performance as young girl at odds with her mother.

Overall, ‘Humans in the Loop’ is an interesting one-time watch. Still, the limited runtime makes it feel like the story is carrying more themes than it comfortably can.

Watch ‘Humans in the Loop’ on Netflix.

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