‘Love Hostel’ Review: A Well Executed, Nail-Biting Thriller Marred By A Dissatisfying End
One fact you may or may not know about me: if given the choice, I will always choose to consume content from the thriller and suspense genre. Get me some popcorn and blankets and you’ll see me park my butt right by the screen, unwavering. Honestly, what’s not to love? Well written thrillers can keep you at the edge of your seat, anticipating the next thing that is about to happen. So you can imagine my excitement when I watched Love Hostel, a romance – thriller by ZEE5. The movie stars Vikrant Massey, Sanya Malhotra and Bobby Deol in lead roles and is directed by Shanker Raman. Seeing that the movie is out for all of you to watch, I decided I would give you my opinion about the movie.
The Plot
Love Hostel revolves around Ahmed “Ashu” Shokeen (played by Vikrant Massey) and Jyoti Dilawar (played by Sanya Malhotra). Ashu and Jyoti decide to get married against Jyoti’s politically affluent family’s approval. The story follows Ashu and Jyoti as they try to escape from Viraj Singh Dagar (played by Bobby Deol) who is quite literally, out to kill them for defying Jyoti’s family.
The Cast And Characters
Okay, I will clarify this from the get-go: I enjoyed everyone’s performance in Love Hostel. Vikrant Massey has always been a joy to watch on screen. I have always enjoyed his performances and him playing Ashu was no different.
Sanya Malhotra has been one of my favourite actors in Bollywood since her debut in Dangal. She has a way of elevating a scene simply by her nuanced acting skills. A lot of the intense scenes from Love Hostel felt genuine, thanks to Sanya’s presence in them.
Okay, the wild card for me was Bobby Deol who plays the antagonist in the movie. However, I was pleasantly surprised! Firstly, I absolutely loved his avatar as Dagar and he looked just as menacing as his character is supposed to be. Secondly, his presence on screen really added to the tension in the scenes. As a viewer, I believe that he genuinely was able to play the antagonist well, causing fear for anyone who is watching him. Dagar’s character held his own against a backdrop where a lot is going on.
Also Read: Vikrant Massey Drops Haldi Pics From His Wedding To Sheetal Thakur. Yellow Looks The Colour Of Fun!
The Execution
Now, Love Hostel is not for the faint-hearted. If you cannot handle bloodshed and graphic deaths, this movie will definitely freak you out. Having said that, if you are like me and enjoy the horrors of gore, this will be your cup of tea.
As a thriller, Love Hostel is great for what it is. It will keep you on the edge of your seat. I will say that the movie definitely uses a lot of the thriller/suspense tropes or gimmicks which we are accustomed to which might make it a tad bit predictable. However, despite that, Love Hostel managed to keep my shitty attention span on the screen for the entire duration of the movie. The movie has genuinely created an atmosphere of constant dread and uncertainty with its cinematography and use of good background scores.
While I did enjoy the experience of watching Love Hostel, there were certain places where the movie seemed lacking, so let’s talk about them. Firstly, some of the backstories were not fully explained which left a huge question mark in my head. Like there were certain “revelations” that weren’t exactly out of place but due to the lack of a valid explanation or the lack of one at all, it just felt kinda sloppily written.
Secondly, the ending was kinda unexpected. Now for a thriller, you’d think that’s a good thing but that’s not what I mean. What I mean was that Love Hostel ended in a very rushed way, according to me. Not only did it take a turn in a completely different direction towards the end, but it all happened so fast that I couldn’t place what I had watched and had to give it another serious thought to form conclusions about the end. My qualms lie not with the route of the plot but more so with the rushed end and the lack of properly written backstories.
Final Thoughts
As I already said, Love Hostel is great as a thriller. It also has an underlining commentary on religious/class disparities and conflicts, politics, crime and law enforcement in India which will make you question a lot of things about our country. So I would suggest you give it a watch for the good casting and performances, well-executed gory thriller and the overall social commentary.
However, due to the inconsistencies in the writing of the character backstories and the pacing at the end, I will have to give the movie a bit of negative marking. With that, I give Love Hostel a solid 3 out of 5.
Love Hostel is now available to stream on ZEE5.
