Hostel

There hasn't been a student either in India or worldwide, that hasn't been bullied at some stage in his life.

The effect this has on the victim has far reaching and unimaginable consequences. The first is isolation and the development inferiority complex. If not dealt with by a psychiatrist, can lead to the individual becoming a social outcast, and his or her hatred of society as a whole. His identity is also becoming slowly annihilated.

This individual will tend to avoid social gatherings and keep a low profile. He or she is easily angered and provoked by ridicule.

Another effect is of revenge. When this occurs, he or she will take the law into his own hands. When this happens, I feel it is too late to save him or her.

Also ragging in college totally disrupts the education of the victim. He cannot concentrate on his studies due to fear of his assailants and also of thoughts of revenge.

The teachings of Jesus Christ doesn't come to play in the modern world. If you offer your enemy your cheek to be slapped, he will demolish your jaw with a "sledgehammer". And anyways its a DOG-EAT-DOG world.

Who is to blame. First and foremost it is the parent or guardian of the victim. The administrative board of college is second. And third it is the government for not offering us any protection as a citizen.

I sometimes wonder, why do governments and countries exist at all when billions of homeless and destitute and exploited people exist. This surely is the biggest enigma.

Hostel is a film directed by writer-director Manish Gupta who has scripted Sarkar (2005) and has directed The Stoneman Murders (2009).

The film starring Vatsal Sheth, Tulip Joshi and Mukesh Tiwari was released worldwide on January 21, 2011

Brief Plot: One night at the Boys' Hostel at Jaigarh University, Satara District, a senior student Feroz (Mukesh Tiwari) and his goons harass freshman geek Vishnu "Battery" Pandey (Subeer Goswamin), stripping him down, molesting him and tying a collar around his neck and forcing him to act like a dog. His cries for help falls on deaf ears as the watchman continues to go about on his rounds....

Verdict: This is among the best films of 2011, and a must watch. I should expect this to be seen by all the deans of colleges worldwide.

Hostel Directed By Manish Gupta is Crime Horror Drama. Direction is Good But Script is Weak. Screenplay is Dull & Boring. Dialogues Are Weak. Cast is Pathetic.

Karan(Vatsal Seth) Moves Jaigarh For Further Studies. He Gets A Room In Hostel. As The Day Pass He is Been Tortured, Molested And Humiliated By Seniors. He Befriends Who Have Been Gone Through Such Phrase. The Seniors Group is Led By Feroz(Mukesh Tiwari). Meanwhile Karan Meets Payal(Tulip Joshi). They Like Each Other. Feroz is Politically Strong, He Does Illegal Activities in Hostel. Karan Faces Them & Finally Retaliates.

A Year Later, A New Guy Pawan Mehta Enters The Same Hostel. He Goes Through Same Humiliation Like Others Have Gone Through. In Order To Bring Peace Karan Takes An Extreme Step.

Acting By Most Of The Actors is Disappointing. Vatsal Seth & Tulip Joshi Both Are Hopeless. Mukesh Tiwari Does Well in Few Scenes.

Music & Lyrics Are Good But Lack Of Better Singers Makes The Songs Sound Average. Background Music is Not There. "No Sound" Effect Not Used Properly. Avoid The Movie And Save Time.

Manish Gupta's Hostel from 2011 is an often insane, grindhouse-shredder that gleefully, unapologetically swerves all over the cinematic map, making stops at other films (from many other countries) in both subject and tone.

As Karan, Vatsal Sheth recalls the titular hero of The Story of Ricky, Lam Ngai Kai's ultra-campy Japanese pulp marital arts/Manga freakout (1991) --- he's got a lethal death-stare, seemingly limitless composure in the face of monumental threats and aggression and he kicks more than a little ass when pushed past the breaking point.

But Karan's not fighting an evil prison warden and his regime of futuro-torturers. His problems come in the form of a gang of marauding thugs who, Gupta would have us believe, run the college hostels (dorms) as gangsters terrorize a ghetto, with full backing of the administration, government, and supposedly parents. That sounds far-fetched, but after reading enough about Gupta and why he made this film, I do believe he's not exaggerating.

Bullying is not new. It's been around since the first caveman ripped the first chunk of meat out of his neighbor's hand just because he could. What's fascinating about Hostel (at least from the viewpoint of an American) is how the culture seems to dictate how "visible" bullying can be without raising flags, and how society reacts and tolerates it. You can see it as early on in film as Tom Brown's Schooldays (1940, based on the 1857 novel), to Renee Dalder's classic teensploitation splatterwork Massacre At Central High from 1976 (which the second half of Gupta's film resembles) to the myriad shootings depicted in art films like Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Tim Sutton's oblique Dark Night. For anyone who seriously asks why there are so many Columbine clones in the news monthly... well, it's all here.

Gupta's film is shocking because of how public the humiliation is and how widely accepted it is. Exactly WHY that is would be very fascinating, and perhaps Indians have a better understanding of the answers to those questions. Other factors such as economics and shame play heavily into this as well. Most Americans will look at this film and say "why doesn't Karan just leave?" and Karan is asked that question and he replies that he has no choice. He can't afford a place to live and his parents are dead. This is obviously a fact of life in India that most (relatively rich) Americans could not hope to grasp.

Once you get past that shock and settle into the film, it takes you to more than a few places you don't expect. A very dark, early example of this is when Karan is literally being beaten to a pulp by 20 of the head bully's goons and the hostel director interrupts it to chide the goons on their beating technique, so Karan won't end up in the hospital. Then another encounter with a "real" gangster takes a very funny and unexpected turn.

In between all this we get a love story that's very throwback Bollywood in tone and style (cheesy love songs and all) but almost a relief from the film's near-constant montage of sadism. Probably the most disturbing aspect of Hostel is the Massacre at Central High-esque theme of the bullied becoming the bullies, and as a result the second half of the film is even harder to endure (in a good way) than the first.

Gupta should be highly commended for making this film. His passion fills each frame and is joyous to behold in it's courage. As a technical piece of film-making, it's got a lot of problems, mostly in pacing and length, the supporting actors who are so-so and mostly stiff in their line readings --- but that could be a play on the classic Bollywood style as are some of the "on purpose" audio clicks you hear on the soundtrack (as you'd hear in a worn grind-house print where the reels change). It flys it's freak-flag high... you can't help admire it for that. And it definitely has something to say and something to make you think about.

I first thought this movie to be an Ragging wareness video, but later after watching this, I find out to be nothing more than same generic impractical movie potraying impractical circumstances.

Hostel is the story of Karan who starts his 4 year engineering degree moving into a hostel. Within hours of arriving at the hostel he finds out that life at college is not going to be what he imagined as there are a group of guys who extort money from younger students, bully and harass them at all opportunities, even to the extent of stripping them naked, parading them in front of other students (male and female) on college grounds and even worse, in some cases molesting and raping them. Karan tries to stand up for himself but this makes things worse and eventually he realises he has no choice but to keep quiet. When his best friends from the first year start getting involved in the bullying of younger students in the seconds year, does Karan get involved or just concentrate on his studies? Can anyone get through college without some form of abuse? This is a real eye-opener of a film if you've never lived on college accommodation. It's shocking and distasteful but sadly based on reality which is the saddest thing. This is not your typical feel good Bollywood film and many will find it very disturbing.

Vatsal Sheth as Karan is superb in the role, he looks the part, innocent and "pretty" - the perfect target for disgusting bullies. Tulip Joshi as Payal, Karan's love interest, doesn't have a lot of screen time but she performs well and this is not a love story - although their scenes provide some life relief from all the violence and humiliation endured by young students.

Mukesh Tiwari is suitably sinister as Feroz bhai, the main gang leader, who it seems will stop at nothing to show he's top man.

The side actors were nothing of note but the story overall was shocking and this viewer feels the film should be compulsory viewing to all deans and principals of further education institutions in India to make sure they are aware of what's going on under their noses! Watch this if you have the stomach for it. I didn't enjoy it but I'm glad I watched it.