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Join UsStar cast: Vatsal Sheth, Tulip Joshi, Mukesh Tiwari.
Plot: Mukesh Tiwari is a bully who rags new students in the college hostel. But Vatsal won’t take things lying down.
What’s Good: Hardly anything. Perhaps, Mukesh Tiwari’s acting only.
What’s Bad: Script; acting; music.
Verdict:Hostel will fail miserably at the box-office.
Loo break: Anytime, any number of times!
Watch or Not? Watch it at your own risk.
Matrix Media’s Hostel (A) is about the ragging which takes place in hostels attached to universities. Jaigarh University in Satara district is a prestigious university but the ragging that goes on in the hostel attached to the educational institution could put anyone to shame.
Firoz (Mukesh Tiwari) is a student of the same university who has been failing since many years. He lives in the hostel and rags new entrants, torturing them physically and mentally. Karan (Vatsal Sheth) is one such student who has to bear the brunt of Firoz’s ragging. While most other students get used to the ragging for fear of Firoz and his cronies, Karan does not take things lying down even though he is stripped naked in front of the entire college once. The principal (Yusuf Khan),warden (Nagesh Bhonsle) and others in the University decline to take any action against the culprits. In fact, the warden is hand-in-glove with Firoz.
One day, prodded on by his girlfriend, Payal (Tulip Joshi), Karan beats up Firoz’s right-hand man (Arif Shaikh) when he tries to rag him. Months pass by. A new student, Pawan (Vinamra Pancharia), enters the hostel and is similarly humiliated and ragged by Firoz and his friends who now include Karan’s own batch-mates and friends as they have become seniors. Depressed, Pawan commits suicide. Karan then decides to avenge the death of the new student, Pawan, and also to do something to put an end to the practice of ragging. Does he succeed? Or is he overpowered by Firoz and his group?
Script and Screenplay
Manish Gupta’s story is routine and even his screenplay is full of cliched situations and sequences. Since almost the entire drama takes place in the hostel, there is a lot of monotony that sets in for the viewers in terms of locations. Karan getting beaten up black and blue every now and then by Firoz irritates the audience. In spite of taking a stand against ragging, Karan is not shown to be approaching the police for help, which looks a bit unreal. Further, the time elapse of one year – during which Karan’s friends also become hooligans who rag juniors – seems to be a very convenient screenplay twist because it is not clear how the goonda elements in the hostel treated Karan during this time period.
Even the climax does not have the desired impact because of the repititive incidents in the drama. All in all, Manish Gupta’s script is anything but inspiring. Even the dialogues (by Gupta) are commonplace.
Star Performances
Vatsal Sheth does not suit the role of the student who can take on the hooligan called Firoz. He does an average job. Tulip Joshi has no worthwhile role to speak about. Mukesh Tiwari is extremely effective. Nagesh Bhonsle is also very good. Vinamra Pancharia does a fair job. As Karan’s friends-turned-foes, Nirmal Soni (Bobby), Subir Goswami (Vishnu Pandey) and Ramesh Chandane (as Nilesh) barely fill the bill. Arif Shaikh is average. Yusuf Khan passes muster. Others are ordinary.
Direction, Music and Editing
Limited as it is by his lacklustre script, Manish Gupta’s direction leaves something to be desired. Parvez Khan’s action and stunt scenes are boring and have no variety. Virag Mishra’s music and lyrics are more functional than anything else. Camerawork (Srikanth Naroj) is okay. Editing by Sanjib Dutta is ordinary.
The Last Word
On the whole, Hostel is a poor show and will, therefore, find few takers.
