I got slapped 25-27 times for this sequence. Crazy, but fun!, says Sumedh who plays the role of Darkie from Escaype Live

With so many shoots happening round the clock, actors are busy round the clock! Many of them are taking the plunge into the OTT domain with diverse topics to choose from. Sumedh Mudgalkar who is known for his portrayal of Lord Krisha on television will be seen in a completely different role in his OTT debut with Disney+ Hotstar as Darkie in the upcoming series ‘Escaype Live’. The actor has a rather interesting story to share from his shoot experience.

In his own words, Sumedh explains his experience of performing the dynamic role of Darkie in Escaype Live, “There is an incident that I recall, where Akanksha slaps me. We had shot that in Delhi. I had told her before the scene that you slap me for real, and she was like – Are you sure? I was, yes, it would be good as I too get engrossed in the character completely. So, she slapped me around 5-7 times while shooting the scene and then we saw it on the monitor with Shyam Kaushal ji.”

He further added , “A person who is very senior, intelligent and humble, one who always maintains a positive atmosphere on sets. A person from whom we learn a lot on sets, he told Akanksha that I have complained about her not slapping me properly. As an actor, you are not performing it in the right manner or something. Akanksha said that she will now do it properly. I saw everything and understood it’s a joke, however Akanksha didn’t realise it’s a joke and the next shot she slapped me like crazy! She hugged me after the shot, sensing that she had slapped me too hard and apologised to me and said that my cheek is still hot. So, to summarise, I got slapped 25-27 times for this sequence. Crazy, but fun!”

Escaype Live is a fictional story, penned by Jaya Mishra and Siddharth Kumar Tewary, that is likely to seem very true and real. The story features a bunch of content creators, with different paths but one goal – to produce viral content to emerge victorious in a life-changing competition announced by the hottest new app in the country called Escaype Live. Produced under Siddharth Kumar Tewary’s One Life Studios, the nine-episodic series heavily emphasizes the human tendency to be competitive and their drive to succeed. The supremely talented cast, include Siddharth, Jaaved Jaaferi, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Swastika Mukherjee, Plabita Borthakur, Waluscha D Souza, Ritvik Sahore, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Jagjeet Sandhu, Rohit Chandel and child actor Aadyaa Sharma amongst others.

The essence of the series explores the lengths content creators and tech giants are willing to travel to achieve their aspirations. Set across different cities of India, the series leveraged different dialogue writers for each city to add regional authenticity. Dance Rani’ story based in Jaisalmer saw her dialogues being penned by Vinod Sharma while Amcha’s lines were penned by Amol Surve. Similarly, Banaras-based characters of Meenakumari and Sunaina’s dialogues were written by Ranveer Pratap Singh while Darkie and Festish Girl’s dialogues were penned by Jaya Mishra and Siddharth Kumar Tewary.

~ Tune in to Disney+ Hotstar to catch this one-of-a-kind series ESCAYPE LIVE to know what’s the reality behind all the glam of content creators~