Social media has been a boon in terms of communication but every innovation comes with its share of minuses. The advent of short videos on social media has forced people of various age groups to do all kinds of antics in front of their phone cameras to gain likes and followers.
This issue is explored in the Disney+ Hotstar web-series Escaype Live, which has been created and directed by Siddharth Kumar Tewary.
The show tells the story of a young man, played by Rang De Basant (2006) actor Siddharth, who joins the company behind runs the app Escaype Live. It’s a platform that is followed by millions of Indians who showcase their respective skills in the short video format to gain popularity.
The boss at Escaype Live (Jaaved Jaaferi) announces a contest where the user who gets the maximum diamonds [likes] stands to win a prize of Rs3 crore. This makes the already crazy users even crazier as they go all out to get more and more diamonds. Looking at all this, Siddharth’s character starts feeling guilty about being part of such a project.
The show draws heavily from today's times. The mix of celebrities on Escaype Life are exactly the type of people we see on various short video sharing apps, including a little girl abandoning her childhood and dancing suggestively and a woman [Plabita Borthakur] using her raw sex appeal to gain likes and followers.
The dose of reality provided by the trailer is enough reason to look forward to the show. Siddharth’s performance also impresses you. The casting of Jaaferi, Borthakur, Shweta Tripathi and Waluscha De Sousa also appears apt.
Escaype Live will be streamed on Disney+ Hotstar from 20 May.
Check out the trailer and let us know if you are keen on watching the show.