Escaype Live Review: Lately, it seems like It would be appropriate to say that Bollywood is a booming business! With the majority of hit theatrical releases featuring big Bollywood stars to claw gripping shows and series on the OTT platform. It has indeed been a busy week for the stars of Bollywood. While new teasers and trailers of films keep entertaining us. Episodic series on the OTT platforms like Hotstar, Netflix, and Amazon prime are equally minded gripping, and fun.
Recently, the new series titled “Escaype Live” was released on the 20th of May on Disney plus Hostar. Out of which seven out of its nine episodes began streaming on the platform. Popular actors Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Plabita Borthakur, Waluscha D’Souza, Ritvik Sahore, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Jagjeet Sandhu, Rohit Chandel, and Aadyaa Sharma star in the program in solid roles.
PLOT
The trailer begins with an introduction to a TikTok-like software, with a voice-over saying that “anyone with a phone may become a star” with its guidance. We catch a peek of Siddharth, who appears to be working at Escaype Live. The trailer then shows several app users from around India, including a parkour artiste, an influencer, a tiny girl known as the dancing queen, a girl from Varanasi, and a cam girl specializing in pornographic material.
The plot then develops as we see Jaaved Jaaferi as the face behind the voice-over, while he announces a competition in which the person with the most likes stands to earn 3 cores. This motivates people to bring their A-game or even themselves at risk in order to earn the top reward. As Siddharth’s character attempts to put a stop to it before the candidates go crazy, his top executives condemn him for risking their business. The trailer’s title states, “6 lives. 3crores 1 contest.” Endless ramifications How far will you go to achieve your goals?
REVIEW
The show’s intentions are good. The issue is that it tries way too hard and focuses on multiple subjects. A pre-teen dancer is receiving growth hormone injections, a transgender singer is unable to come out to her family, a girl from the North East is being sexually exploited by her boss, and a parkour performer from Mumbai’s chawls is suffering from an inferiority complex. There are also discussions on the class disparity and the North-South conflict. The show seems to go overboard in its attempt to create a miniature India through the app. As a result, there are too many songs, concerns, and drama to deal with. There have been similar shows like this one.
Several known figures appear in the cast, and many of them shine. Jaaved Jaaferi impresses as Escaype Live’s nasty and terrifying CEO. It’s encouraging to see him succeed in a bad role. Siddharth looks natural as the show’s moral compass, although he is constrained in some way, whether due to the character or the script. He has done much better stuff in the past. Shweta Tripathi Sharma is reprising her role as a small-town girl from Uttar Pradesh. It is indeed remarkable that she manages to provide diversity to what is essentially the same role. Plabita Borthakur plays a waitress who moonlights as a boudoir cam lady.
The show’s stars are some of the most underappreciated actors. As the 11-year-old Dance Rani, Aadyaa Sharma is charming. She captures the pre-teen content creator’s ambition, perplexity, and angst. Then there’s Sumedh Mudgalkar, who plays the volatile social media sensation Darkie. He is unpredictable, insane, and well-liked. It was a difficult part that may easily have devolved into a caricature. Despite some sloppy writing, Sumedh just about avoids this.
Siddharth Kumar Tewary, writer-director, attempted to create a reality show based on contemporary events. He was helped by his performers, the majority of whom performed admirably. However, the show might have used a little more sophistication from its management to make it a memorable watch. Escaype Live is not really a horrible concert, but it falls short of expectations. It manages to do a significant disservice to a wonderful premise and strong performances, and this must be addressed.
Source: hindustantimes.com
