HOSTEL :Growing pains

KATHMANDU, Aug 31: ‘Hostel’ begins as a feel good movie, almost bringing a smile to your face, but despite a hopeful start and an interesting setting, the film cherishes so much on clichéd plot twists and a triangular romantic track that drags it into a disappointing end. The film suffers heavily with stereotypical characterization and the young actors infuse only shallow emotions.



Anmol KC plays Aditya Bikram Rana, a spoilt brat who has spent the entirety of his childhood in hostels. He continuously blames his hostel life for shaping him into a dispassionate and emotionless loner. When the movie starts, we see Aditya being dropped off at yet another hostel – now at a medical college – by his mother. He feels so rejected from his parents that he never picks up their calls. [break]



In college he meets Shri (Gaurav Pahadi) and Junge (Salon Basnet). Unlike Aditya, they both come from a small-town upbringing and gel up quickly with him. So begins their hostel life which promises them all the mischief, trouble, crushes, heartbreaks and petty quarrels.



‘Hostel’ is penned as a coming-of-age story but it dribbles into tacky territories which hardly represents the sensitivity of young people. The empathy never sticks with Aditya because his character is written unnaturally and we’re never arrested in Anmol’s acting.



Yes it does connect in few scenes and is immaculate in drawing the atmosphere of the world it sets out to create. Also, the smaller moments make you nostalgic and even tickle you, however the screenplay runs out of gags and visits a familiar teen drama territory that misfires till the climax. The second half of the movie follows the conventional template where a good girl falls for the bad guy and the nerd guy who loves her is “friendzoned”.



Performances wise, Anmol is superficial in terms of both body language and dialogue delivery. Same for the leading lady Prakriti Shrestha who is the love interest in the bland love triangle. The ones who outshine in the fiasco are Gaurav Pahadi and Salon Basnet. Gaurav approaches his role with all the given sincerity his character allows him and Salon Basnet’s Junge churns out some memorable scenes in the movie.



Relationships are complex during the stage of life that ‘Hostel’ aims to put on view, and the characters of the movie do make first impressions, but the oversimplified depiction of youth never grows deep into you.



Screening at QFX Cinemas.

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