# Escaype Live

Escaype Live is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language television series created and directed by Siddharth Kumar Tewary. It is written by Jaya Misra and Siddharth Kumar Tewary, with dialogues by Vinod Sharma, Amol Surve and Ranveer Pratap Singh. Produced by Siddharth Kumar Tewary under the banner of One Life Studios, the series stars Siddharth, Jaaved Jaaferi, Shweta Tripathi, Sumedh Mudgalkar, Waluscha De Sousa, Plabita Borthakur and Ritvik Sahore. Escaype Live 9 episodes were launched on Disney+Hotstar in two instalments within a week of each other. Episode 1- 7 were dropped on 20 May 2022 and the two - part finale a week later, thereby successfully engaging their viewers and building curiosity over its content within the week.

## Plot

A live streaming app has announced a contest promising instant fame and fortune to its most popular participant which turns the mundane lives of 6 regular Indians upside down as their reality begins to change form. Escaype Live, is a social thriller series offering a glimpse into the minds of people living in the world of social media and how far they're willing to go to get what they want and how as the lines between the reality and virtuality begin to blur, the rules of the game change and the order of morality transforms. When the stakes are high, how far is a person willing to go to achieve their dreams? And how much is really too much?

## Cast

* Siddharth as Krishna Rangaswamy
* Jaaved Jaaferi as Ravi Gupta
* Shweta Tripathi as Sunaina
* Waluscha De Sousa as Gia Bose
* Sumedh Mudgalkar as Dark Angel a.k.a. Darkie, Bablu in flash back
* Plabita Borthakur as Hina a.k.a. Fetish Girl
* Ritvik Sahore as Nilesh Sonawane a.k.a. Aamcha Spider
* Aadya Sharma as Rani Singh a.k.a. Dance Rani
* Rohit Chandel as Rajkumar a.k.a. Meena
* Swastika Mukherjee as Mala
* Alekh Sangal as Baldev
* Geetika Vidya Ohlyan as Sita
* Jagjeet Sandhu as Nandu
* Mallika Singh as Shrini Rangaswamy
* Aakanksha Singh as Devna
* Sharat Saxena as Rajkumar's Father
* Sanjay Narvekar as Aamcha's Father
* Smita Tambe as Aamcha's Mother
* Arundhati Nag as Laxmi Amma
* Anagh Jain as Dhruv Bhalla
* Ashwin Mushran as Jogi Balla / Dhruv's Father
* Aditi Govitrikar as Meenal Bhalla / Dhruv's Mother
* Kunal Thakkar as Kunal (CTO)
* Khuman as Tashi

## Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| 1 | 9 | 9 | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |

### Episodes

| No. | Title | Directed by | Original release date |
| 1 | "The Game Begins" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| Krishna Rangaswamy a man high on moral ethics and values joins a live streaming social networking app "Escaype Live" as a moderator. Soon after, a grand competition promising a prize of 3 crores to its popular contestants is announced where neither him, nor the contestants know how the contest will throw all their lives in a tizzy. ||||
| 2 | "Follow/Like/Love" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| As the games begins, the most popular contestant Darkie finds himself in a face off with Aamcha Spyder. The Face Offs heat up as Fetish Girl steams up the game with her acts while Nandu, Rani's uncle stumbles upon a dreadful idea for his niece's win. Krishna meanwhile resigns after realising that the only rule of this game is that 'There are NO RULES'. As the stakes rise, no one knows what's in store ahead. ||||
| 3 | "#Nofilter" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| Rajkumar, a bank employee hailing from Varanasi reluctantly meets a prospective bride under family pressure just as Amcha spyder realises he needs to completely transform himself to stand a chance in the game. Sudden erratic changes show up in Rani's behaviour as the pressure mounts while Fetish's real identity is on the verge of being revealed to her boss. With the unprecedented revelation of a new player, Krishna too stumbles upon damaging information about the contest, casting a doubt on its own existence. ||||
| 4 | "Cheat Code" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| Darkie with his knack for sensationalism makes the ratings of the show soar as he enthusiastically plans the deadliest party ever. Mala's obsession with Fetish starts getting more and more vicious while Amcha's next move turns into a big fatal mistake. Meanwhile Krishna's conscience makes him feel compelled to expose the secret. ||||
| 5 | "Bhram" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| With the increasing pressure of the competition, all facades start crumbling. As Rajkumar's illusion breaks, the true faces of all contestants starts to show up. The authorities contemplate to crack down on the contest when a fatal accident is telecast live on the app leaving all viewers stunned. Dance Rani's father is alarmed and orders her not to use the app anymore Krishna, guilty of facilitating the wrong tries to make it right to fetish, but ends up unravelling his own spotted. ||||
| 6 | "Search for the Truth" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| As the contest now rolls like a juggernaut towards an explosive finale, Amcha struggles with a broken spirit due to his last action and fetish girl makes one more brave attempt to get rid of her issues. Rani despite her personal sufferings, gets ahead by the day not knowing that someone with a dark past is plotting to make sure she loses. ||||
| 7 | "Nautanki" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 20 May 2022 (2022-05-20) |
| As the personal lives of contestants get into a tailspin, Meena and her father have a fallout which breaks her heart. Krishna gets a request from fetish girl to help her win the contest. Rani gets enticed by a secret admirer and runs away to meet him creating a pandemonium. Troubles mount for Darkie as the Delhi police close in on him. ||||
| 8 | "#EndGame" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 27 May 2022 (2022-05-27) |
| Meena feels that her life is at its worst, even as her popularity soars and she reaches the top of the competition chart. Rani is shocked when she gets to know the real identity of Mr Lova Lova and feels trapped with no way to escape. All contestants go all out to win the contest as the finale gets closer. Krishna gets help from unexpected quarters as he attempts to do the right thing as per his moral values. ||||
| 9 | "The Ouroborus : Every End holds a New Beginning" | Siddharth Kumar Tewary | 27 May 2022 (2022-05-27) |
| It's finale time but with a cruel twist in it. The brains behind Escaype live blur the lines between morality and business as they are stunned by emergence of an unlikely winner. As the competition ends, life seems to be curling back to normal, unknown to an even deadlier game that has already begun. ||||

## Release

The trailer of the series was released on 26 April 2022 consisting of seven episodes premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on 20 May 2022 and remaining two episodes were released on 27 May 2022.

## Critical reception

Circuswood420 from Instagram rated it 4 stars out of 5 and considered it as most underrated hotstar series while Rohan Naahar for The Indian Express rated 1 stars out of 5 stars stating "Escaype Live is a monumentally irritating show that talks down to its audience with no regard for their time, money and patience."