Engga Hostel review: Weak characters and lack of fresh ideas make this campus drama a humdrum fare

2/5

Story: A few youngsters join an engineering college in Tamil Nadu with several hopes and ambitions. Each of them goes through varied experiences and struggles owing to their lives in the hostel. They realize after a while that their respective experiences have changed their attitude towards life in a positive manner.  

Review: Sathish Chandrasekaran's Engga Hostel is the Tamil version of the popular Hindi series Hostel Daze which has completed three seasons till date. The filmmaker has tweaked the story and screenplay to suit the sensibility of the Tamil audience and has given a new spin to some of the characters.

A bunch of young students hailing from different places join an engineering college, pinning hopes on their future. The five-episode series delves into their various emotional struggles and hassles they face during their stay in hostel. How they get along during the first year in spite of their differences forms the rest of the story.

The character sketches are interesting on a surface level. Ajay (Sacchin Nachiappan) as the socially awkward, but care-free guy, Chithappu (Avinaash) as the annoying senior, Sendhil (Goutham) in the role of a caring friend, Ahaana (Samyuktha Viswanathan) who faces initial hiccups owing to her non-Tamil background, Rajathilagam (Saranya Ravichandran) as the complex-minded girl and Jaya Veera Pandian (Dravid Selvam) who is already engaged to his fiancée, all of them are appealing on paper.

However, the characters aren't fleshed out because of which we find it hard to empathize with their problems. Some of the conflicts are relatable, but they aren't developed into engaging sequences to leave an impact on us.

All the leading actors put their best foot forward, but the lack of exciting character arcs dilute their efforts. Some of the episodes in the Hindi version are presented in a mellow tone here with an assumption that the Tamil audience wouldn't be able to digest adult content. 

Though the scenario in college hostels in Tamil Nadu are different, the decision to come up with an adulterated version for some of the ragging episodes have spoiled the fun to a good extent. The chemistry between a handful of actors is convincing while for others, it comes across as quite superficial.

Some of the character traits attached to a few actors become repetitive after a point and affects the flow of the narration. Balaji Raja's visuals are neat and music by Anil is adequate. What stands out like a sore thumb is the fact that some of the scenes appear staged which dilutes the genuine emotions conveyed in it.

Despite sincere efforts from actors, what lets down the plot is the lack of compelling sequences when there are actually ample opportunities to create them. The fundamental issue with the flow of events is that it gives us a "been there, done that" feeling from the beginning which stops them from leaving an impression that we are watching something unique and refreshing. 

Verdict: The absence of detailed character sketches and novel ideas leave us unimpressed despite wholehearted efforts from lead actors.

Engga Hostel is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.