Hostel Daze 2 review: Adarsh Gourav's series should have been a feature film

3/5

Story:

Hotel Daze 2 follows the life of hostellers and the life around them. From ragging and relationships to inedible mess food and unbreakable bonds, the series showcases the realities of an engineering hostel.

Review:

Making it obvious by the trailer, the second instalment of TVF’s comedy-drama show starts with a ragging scene. While in the first part, Nikhil Vijay’s Jhantoo was a victim to ragging from the freshers including Ankit (Adarsh Gourav), the second season shows the two as buddies, who are now ragging the current freshers. 

Nikhil’s funny punches initially built the energy as well as expectations of the audiences. However, the second half of the first episode got us so bored that we were forced to check how much of the show is still pending. Nabomita (Ayushi Gupta) says, “Maza nahi aa raha” in a scene, which was our reaction to the show too.

However, the director's shot at the end of the first episode is an impressive one. In a smart manner, he captures Ankit, Jaat and Jhantoo standing on the balcony outside a room through their shadows from a glass door. 

Unlike the first season, the latest instalment was not only focused on Ankit’s life and the world around him. This time, in fact, we could see The White Tiger fame actor in a supporting rather than the lead role. Feet not, for towards the end, we also get to see what happened to his love life. The audiences also get to see and know about the real Akanksha and her hostel life.

The four-episode series could have been converted into a feature film, similar to what was done with ZEE5’s State Of Siege.

Hostel Daze 2 will surely remind you of Sushant Singh Rajput’s 2019 film Chhichhore thanks to the ragging scene and the bond between the hosteliers. 

While the show didn't exactly have anything new to offer, the unnecessary narrations between the teacher, a coach and a laundryman of the hostel further make you lose interest in the show.

While the first season of Hostel Daze was mostly focused on exams, assignments and porn, the current instalment revolves around friendship, love and relationship. The topic of ragging, though, was common in both the series.

Verdict:

The first season introduced us to the real engineering hostels and drove us down the memory lane. Thus, we had high expectations from the second season, which the makers might have failed to understand. Despite everything, Nikhil Vijay’s punches make the show survivable. Just for his sake, you could watch the show one time.