Escaype Live Review: Too many characters and their backstories take time to develop but eventually grab your attention with its entertaining and fast paced narrative
Escaype Web Series Rating: 3.5 Stars
Just watched Escaype Live web series on Amazon Prime Video. So let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Siddharth, Jaaved Jaaferi, Shweta Tripathi, Swastika Mukherjee, Plabita Borthakur, Ritvik Sahore, Waluscha De Sousa, Sumedh Mudgalkar, Sharat Saxena, Sanjay Narvekar, Smita Tambe, Arundhati Nag, Aditi Govitrikar, Aakanksha Singh , Geetika Vidya, Mallika Singh, Jagjeet Sandhu, Rohit Chandel and Aadya Sharma
Director: Siddharth Kumar Tewary
Release Date: 20th May 2022 (Amazon Prime Video)
Duration: 7 Episodes/ 40 Minutes
Story: Series delves into the lives of several people associated with a video-streaming social media app called Escaype Live. The show follows app users as they push boundaries in the hopes of winning the app’s grand prize of three crores. It has a lot of resemblance to the apps like Tik-Tok, Dubsmash, and Instagram reels, where anyone with a phone can become a star. It’s more like a live talent hunt show, wherein no one but the audience have the final say giving ratings in the form of ‘diamonds’ on the app. It has some rules, which includes no promotion of smoking, drinking and pornography. The reach of the app is not just limited to the cities but also extends to the interiors.
Boss of this video-streaming social media app is Ravi Gupta (Jaaved Jaaferi), team leader Gia Bose (Waluscha DSouza), and content moderator Krishna (Siddharth). The topmost content creators sleazy internet sensations are Fetish Girl, prankster Darkie, parkour Aamcha Spider, singing sensation Meena Kumari and Dancing Rani.
Each character is brimming with emotions and vulnerabilities, which encourages them to explore the app. Dancing Rani (Aadyaa Sharma) wants to soon transform into a big girl to become an internet sensation after trying her luck in several dance competitions. His maternal uncle (Jagjeet Sandhu) helps her in his mission to win the competition. But will she won?
Fetish Girl aka Hina (Plabita Borthakur) is living a double life of facing discrimination because she is from the Northeast and hiding her identity on the app to earn some extra grants to support her family and herself. She is also working in a restaurant and her boss Maya (Swastika Mukherjee) molested her. How she handle her situation and will she able to win the competition.
Darkie aka Babloo(Sumedh Mudgalkar) knows no bounds aside from his likes and popularity which should increase with the amount of hearts and diamonds he earns on the app. He is very popular and has big fan following but involved in a murder of boy during the live part. Inspector (Aakanksha Singh) is investigating and will she succeed.
Aamcha Spider (Ritvik Sahore) is a son of a Washerman (Sanjay Narvekar) who wants to change his life for that he want to win the competition and dreaming to have pant-house in the top floor. Will he able to succeed in his dream.
Rajkumar (Rohit Chandel) is a transwoman who hides his true identity because he is afraid of social acceptance and only shows up as Meena Kumari on the app. When Sunaina (Shweta Tripathi Sharma) comes in his life. Her encouragement and empowerment of Rajkumar to come out of the closet and accept himself is admirable. He even confess his father (Sharat Saxena) about his reality. What happen next will everyone accept it
Despite their diverse backgrounds and environments, they all have one thing in common as they are all doing different things with the same goal of moving forward in life. Finale episode will premiere on 27th May so waiting for the exciting finale.
Positives
1. Excellent Performances
2. Direction
3. Story
4. Screenplay
Negatives
1. Length
2. Too many subplots
3. Initial Episodes
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I have watched the trailer of this series planned to watch on release day as trailer looks amazing as it has unique and engaging concept with excellent star-cast.
The plot of Escaype Live revolves around the lives of five regular Indians who try using a popular live-streaming application, in order to achieve overnight fame and fortune. It follows the journeys of common people as they compete for fame and fortune on a social media app called Escaype live, which hosts a 30-day contest with a prize pool of three crores for the winner.
We are living in the era of influencers on twitter, Instagram, snap chat, tic tok and many more. Controversies are a part and parcel of fame, which at times even takes humans through the darkest route. The newly released Hotstar serie takes on this dark world of social media fame. People will go to any length to achieve instant fame and fortune, and they use social media as a means of making quick money. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it has a darker side that focuses on how these apps work, and it’s clear from the beginning of the show that “it’s a business of entertainment, and business comes before entertainment.” The show follows both app developers, who are purely business-oriented, and content creators, who may struggle to create engaging content that will capture people’s attention.
This nine-part series with each episode lasting about an hour is both entertaining and fast-paced due to its busy narrative. However, some of the enchantment has worn off due to the fact that the show has too many characters and their reel and real-life stories served one after another for the viewers. Even so, it keeps everyone guessing, from the characters to the viewers, about what will happen next and who will win this competition. Based on the first seven episodes available for review, the climax is expected to be a game-changer. Let us wait and watch!
Overall, it briefly addresses social inequality and transgender acceptance, but it ultimately juggles a few stories with which viewers may struggle to connect. The plot is a little crowded with too many characters and their backstories, which take time to develop but eventually grab your attention. My View on this web-series Recommended.
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