Hostel Days (2022) Review: Nostalgia is a Hell of a Drug

Hostel Days is a coming-of-age comedy TV series directed by Satyaki Kundu and Souvik Mondal, and stars Anindya Sengupta, Rohaan Bhattacharjee, Arpan Ghoshal, Roshni Bhattacharyya, Kanchan Mullick, Subha Chattopadhyay, Pushan Dasgupta and Rahul Barui, alongside other cast members. The series has 6 episodes, each with a runtime of 30 minutes.

Hoichoi’s description reads:

A decade later, memories of hostel days, friendship, and betrayal move Orko to start a journey to reunite with his old mates.

– Hostel Days Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –

The problem with shows based on hostels and colleges is that it is very hard to hate them strictly because of the nostalgia factor that pushes these shows forward. Hostel Days is Hoichoi’s attempt to factor in on that nostalgia, and oddly enough, even though I haven’t stayed in a hostel, I looked back on my engineering days with some fondness.

Hostel Days takes inspiration from other similar shows but, most importantly, from 3 Idiots. It’s, thankfully, not an exact copy, but you see the similarities early on in the series. However, being situated in colleges with a similar environment, where we Bengalis have also probably gone, the series feels like a closer and, thus, more relatable watch than the 2009 coming-of-age drama.

I mean, Mandarmani has probably become the second home for most middle-class Bengalis out there, and so has bad engineering college food. Thus, if you’re looking for a blast from the past in the middle of your daily 9-to-5 grind, Hostel Days isn’t going to be the worst thing out there.

In all honesty, the series does a good job of giving a good arc to the story as we move from the innocence of college to the harsh reality of life. Even though we expect Orko to be the ‘main dude’, much like in 3 Idiots, the first character we come across isn’t the protagonist. Parikhit’s struggle and his ability to see the bigger picture (as we see in the flashbacks) will tug at a lot of heartstrings.

The relationship between the friends is what keeps Hostel Days watchable. Regardless of the several aspects at play, there’s something about old friends coming together and trying to solve the issues they have that makes it relevant. And to be honest, I give all the credit to Parikhit, Orko and Kapil (and their actors) for creating an air of familiarity and immediacy and keeping the various elements of the series stuck together.

That being said, Hostel Days is extremely rushed. The series pops up with these random things out of the blue and rushes through explanations and situations to keep us up to date and moving – as if it’s trying to board an already-moving Darjeeling Express from Sealdah. At points, you’re going to get whiplash and wonder where this little nugget of a situation came about; were we made aware of something like this happening on the back burner? Plus, it also introduces conflicts that it chooses not to do anything about.

Several inconsistencies later, you are left to wonder what was the point of the conflicts in general if we are just starting this in an effort to end it as soon as possible.

Now, let’s talk about the ending – for some reason, Hostel Days ends abruptly while the three besties find headway in their relationship. It’s not a cliffhanger since there’s not much to look forward to in a coming-of-age drama. However, the ending, and the entire last episode for that matter, is rushed and half-baked. You expect to see what happens after a night in the lockup, but the series chooses to end without any resolution of any sort, leaving you scratching your head in frustration.

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Sure, the friends find their way back to each other. However, the conflict in their present lives is left unexplored, considering they are in a huge crisis in their professional lives. I understand that the series really focused on the friendship aspect of it and made it the centrepiece of the entire thing. However, it also focused on Orko’s professional career a lot, and for us not to know where they go from there seems like a lost opportunity.

Hostel Days created an atmosphere for us to care about his new venture and Parikhit’s possible role in it, only for us to be left with a slap with a wet sock to our faces. The moment we want to know something other than nostalgia when reality comes knocking on the door, the series takes the easy route out and hides behind tears and pity, leaving us feeling unfulfilled. I think another episode would’ve done the show justice and tied up some remaining loose ends.

However, the actors all give relatable performances, and apart from some very over-the-top moments, the series delivers some fun stuff. It gets a bit much listening to bad Italian every few minutes, which, let’s be real, wasn’t all that funny, to begin with. However, what really got me was the horrible cursing that the series brings forth.

To be honest, it’s absolutely relatable – if you’ve been in an engineering college with the wrong crowd, you’d know. However, I have learned some interesting curses today that I hadn’t known of till a few hours ago, and I am not a kid by any means. This is to say that, as fun as college days were and as much as it’s going to be nostalgic, be aware of not watching it in the vicinity of kids. No one wants to hear their toddlers using colourful words! hostel days 2022

Summing Up: Hostel Days

Hostel Days is an easy-breezy nostalgia watch which will smell of 3 Idiots if you sniff close enough. There are some sweet moments, and it gets us reeled in with its reliability. However, it doesn’t go deep enough for us to care towards the fag end of the series and ends on a disappointing and rushed note. Regardless, if you’re in the mood for some nonsensical fun, this one isn’t a bad watch.

Hostel Days is streaming on Hoichoi. hostel days hoichoi

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