India, May 8 -- A day after writer-director Mahesh Narayanan's Patriot, starring Mammootty and Mohanlal, delivered an action adventure around a sort of spyware that allows remote access to personal phones and laptops, the line between fiction and reality momentarily blurred.

On May 2, the Indian government tested its new Cell Broadcast Alert System, which aims to alert citizens to emergencies. The idea is commendable, but if your phone received the alert, it was also a reminder that a remote entity already can wrest control of a personal device.

As Patriot unfolded, meanwhile, it somehow managed to be both increasingly outlandish and predictable. Narayanan counterbalances the silliness of his plot with details that recall real-life cont...