How does Shweta Tripathi Sharma manage to play each Banaras girl in such a unique way? I’ve lost track of how many times she’s played a girl from Ganga. Rohit Chandel gets to play a tricky part and is on the verge of becoming yet another caricature, but he pulls it off. Siddharth gives a strong performance in his role. Because, while this guy appears to be laid-back, it is not at all what he is in real life.
Escaype Live Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Siddharth, Sumedh Mudgalkar, Jaaved Jaaferi, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Plabita Borthakur, and ensemble.
Creator: Siddharth Kumar Tewary.
Director: Siddharth Kumar Tewary.
Streaming On: Disney+ Hotstar.
Language: Hindi (with subtitles)
Runtime: 9 Episodes Around 50 Minutes Each.
What Is It About: Escaype Live Review
An app named Escaype Live from Chinese influence land in Indian market. It mentors people to create ‘content’ and in return, it pays them if the audience likes them and shows them off with virtual diamonds. The app goes a step further when it announces a contest that will churn out 3 crores for the one who wins it. From the beautiful streets of Mumbai to the teenagers of Heartland India begin their race to win and take a dark turn regardless of the outcome.
What Works: Escaype Live Review
For the past few years, we have been living through an app that has made us all kinds of content creators. We all know TikTok, even if you cry thinking about it, as I do, we are all curious to know what it is. Suddenly many unknown faces became stars, many were hit to fame overnight and sources of income were generated through various aspects of content creation. Escape Live, which hit Disney+ Hotstar, is a dramatic take on the same reality we all live in. Its effect on those who thought it defined their life and also on those who surrendered to it without using their mind.
Written by Jaya Mishra and Ranveer Pratap Singh, Escape Live’s strength lies in the depth of each story it explores. Played by Aadya Sharma, a 10-year-old girl falls prey to the glitz and glamor of the world. But little does she know that she will be a victim to many who she will earn from her at her expense from her. Her childhood de ella is stolen when her uncle de ella gives her injections of growth hormone so that she can soon look like a grown woman and lures people to bring her big bucks. Her innocence of her does not understand all this and the arrogance given by the popularity of the app makes her even more blind.
There is a transwoman trapped in a wonderful male body, played by Rohit Chandel. Her biggest job based in Banaras is to explain her condition to the world. He takes shelter of the night and makes videos in the guise of a woman and becomes popular. His story about him is one of the most impressive in the show. Because the pain is raw and unexplained. Add Shweta Tripathi and it only elevates. So is Plabita Borthakur’s Henna who is exploited by her own boss because she is from the North East and this allows her oppressor to dominate her.
The heart of Escape Live lies in these stories that are human and moving. We have all read, met and even lived with people going through these problems. There are feelings and a mother is confused as to what she has kept her young daughter. Anger comes when a patriarchal brother asks his sister de ella to cover her chest de ella with a scarf, even though she has stepped out to say goodbye to him. It all feels well researched and alive.
Review of Escaype’s Live Show: Star Performance:
The casting department excels at casting actors who seem misfits for this world at first, but blend in beautifully. Aadya and Sumed Mudgalkar as Darky are my favourites. The former brings a lot of pain, even when she doesn’t necessarily feel it. The atmosphere around Aadya is always painful as childhood is intimidated and the actor praises it. Mudgalkar is a revelation. At the risk of becoming a caricature, he brings out the whole uniqueness within him and plays the role of Darky with confidence.
How is Shweta Tripathi Sharma able to play every Banaras girl differently? I have lost the count of how many times she has portrayed a girl from the city of Ganga. Rohit Chandel gets to play a very complicated role and is also walking the thin line of making yet another caricature but survives. Siddharth plays his role with great conviction. Because this may seem like an easygoing character, it’s not what he is in real life, not even close.
Plabita Borthakur too, she gets to play a character that the world wants on screen, but away from it, she is only pushed into a pool of exploitation. Javed Jaffrey does not have much lifting, he plays his role as expected from him.
What Doesn’t Work in Escaype Live:
big picture. While all these stories individually sound surprising, moving and disturbing, they don’t all fit together in one thread. There is always a zero for anything else. While some places seem largely empty, many parts are overfilled and you can feel it.
I wish more time was spent exploring Siddhartha’s orthodox view as it represents a large regressive class. Plus it could only amplify the effect.
Also, the UI of the app seemed out of date. I don’t know, it could just be me, but I’ve already seen a lot investing in an interface that looks like this. Plus, some lazy decisions make things illogical. Whether it is dorky roaming freely or just adding inter-religious ties to it. All this only loosens the grip
Last Words: Escaype Live Review
You can give it a chance if you are in the mood for some dark content which might make you uncomfortable. But don’t go in with too high expectations.
Must Read: Modern Love: Mumbai Review: Chaotic, beautiful, one-sided yet fulfilling; It is the colors of love that Bombay celebrates every day
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