Finding 'fame' via social media

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 25

Majha House organised an online session with the team of the hit OTT series Escaype Live. Participating were Siddharth Kumar Tewary, the director; Jaya Misra, the writer of the series; and the acting team comprising Siddharrth, Sumedh Mudgalkar Rohit Chandel, Plabita and Hritik.

In conversation with Enakshi Ganguly, writer and child rights activist, the team talked about the growing culture of finding fame via social media among youth. Since its release, the series had generated a buzz due to the subject of social media craze that’s blurred the lines dangerously.

I had to move out of my comfort zone to direct this series. Earlier, I was into mythologies and period dramas and had found my niche. But of course, if one is to progress, one has to change and accept challenges. This is exactly what Escaype Live was for me. I had to unlearn everything in order to successfully direct this series. —Siddharth Kumar Tewary, director

Talking about the concept of the series, Tewary, whose earlier projects on television included period dramas such as Mahabharata, Porus and Razia Sultan, said it was a departure from his earlier ventures.

“I had to move out of my comfort zone to direct this series. Earlier, I was into mythologies and period dramas and had found my niche. But of course, if one is to progress, one has to change and accept challenges. This is exactly what Escaype Live was for me. I had to unlearn everything in order to successfully direct this series.”

Echoing the same statement, Sumedh, who surprised his fans by breaking away from his earlier on-screen personification of Lord Krishna, said the role of Darkie was as different as it could be from his role of Lord Krishna. The actors of the series shared that the beauty of the series was that it touched taboo issues and very subtly. “The series talks about taboo issues such as sexuality and sexual orientation without going into any dramatics,” said Rohit Chandel, who plays a transgender in the series. Jaya Misra, who is the writer, shared that the challenge for her was that she had to keep the language of today in mind, while scripting dialogues and also keep in mind the characters they portrayed on screen. Siddharrth, best remembered for his role in Rang De Basanti, said he could not come to terms with his idealistic kind of role.

“I had long discussions with Siddharth Tewary in order to understand my character. He is the moral compass in the series and yet he is also morally corrupt and weak. He also suffers from Hero complex and always blames the other person for everything that goes wrong,” he said.

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