Hostel Returns - for an average entertainment

Director: Suraj Bhushal

Starring: Nazir Husain, Sushil Shrestha, Shashi Shrestha, Abhaya Baral, Sushil Sitaula, Swastima Khadka, Sunil Rawal, etc.

photo courtesy: facebook.com/hostelreturns

In my eyes: 50 % of Five Stars                     

Apparently, the basic story-line is the 'returned quotient' in Hostel Returns where faculty has gone into Engineering this time. Like Hostel, it deals with the college life of students staying at hostel. Overall, it makes an entertaining watch.

Plot:

Four boys: Heroic Pratap (Sushil Shrestha) with toned body and the rich father, too innocent and talented Rameshwor Yadav (Nazir Hussain) all the way from Janakpur Dharampur, the hawa Kumaar (Abhaya Baral) for whom is everything sahi ho except from becoming an engineer and normal-er Sameer (Sushil Sitaula) with the far-western accent.

Two girls: Model-ish Sima (Sashi Shrestha) with some mischievousness and Quality (Swastima Khadka) full of cuteness and fun.

Two love-triangles: Between Pratap, Sashi and Rameshwor and Kumaar, Sameer and Quality.

Ragging and a little too many fights between seniors and juniors, conflicts among friends and a pickle of seriousness with all the fun activities form up the plots.

What I felt:

Writing and Direction:

Since the genre falls in same category, it is ordinary to have similar plots. So, one can easily recall Hostel while watching Hostel Returns - especially the love triangle between major characters and the fun activities. Many had already been confused Sushil Shrestha with Anmol KC!

It is mainly the one-liners and the comic punches that make the movie lively and entertaining to watch. The movie otherwise has nothing new to offer. Both the writing and direction seems average here. Plots could have been built more stronger so that the overall impact of movie could have been more tighter.

Some goods, some flaws:

Good things first - HR is engaging and entertaining enough to hold on the seats. Rameshwor Yadav made audience lol. He got the deal with serious part too, in which he looks justifiable initially and a bit like ‘enough now’ later. Characters are relatable. Almost all the comic scenes are refreshing. The varieties of stereotype characters have helped in the aesthetics. 

Then, there are flaws too. Fights between seniors and juniors come more than necessary; it almost looked like those are for showing off the muscular body of a hero. In one scene, his shirt is ripped off in a very Salman Khan manner! The sequences with hostel warden are too irritating and dull after a while. All he did was hit students with a rolled copy and nothing much, most of the time he appeared on screen.

There are not much noticeable things except from survey practicals and one building drawing class to show them as engineering students, which were there for a song and a comic scene respectively. Apart from this, some students read the books of first semester when they are supposedly in a sixth one. A funny thing that cannot go unnoticed from the eyes of a person in engineering field!

For the main characters, they are portrayed as models more than students. They became more of a eye-candy while other supporting characters outshined them. Rameshwor’s attraction towards Sima looks understandable but kinda funny thing again, they together looked like brother and elder sister (not going on the looks). A plot in which the rich dad of Pratap gives money to college and in return, college faculty doesn’t quite punish Pratap looked half-baked. And, the climax was too cliché. Ending happens at a quite unsuitable point, but that’s okay because the movie works anyway.

Performances:

It is Nazir Hussain, who can be termed a ‘show-stealer’ – he is natural. He has done a commendable job in portraying Rameshwor.  But there are places for improvement in emotional parts. Abhay Baral, given his comic role, is very good. Sushil Sitaula and Swastima Khadka are good ones too. Sitaula with his accent and Swastima in her cute fun-loving girl’s role looked real and are nice to watch. Sushil Shrestha and Shashi Shrestha are benefitted with their attractive looks but they can improve a lot in performance. Other actors playing senior students are okay too. Deeya Maskey in a cameo doesn’t leave a mark.

Others:

Music is nice. Musukka haasney timro  baani le is good and hummable. Background music sounded loud in places. Cinematography is okay. Editing could have been more crisp.

Final Say:

Hostel Returns is an average entertainment package that rides high on comic stuffs. Obviously, college going students will love it more than any other audience. You can watch it and have fun for two hours.

Congratulations to the whole team for the success of movie. It has become a HIT with relatively bigger collections, as per news at www.merocinema.com

(P.S. I forgot the Swastima Khadka's character's actual  name!!)