Girls Hostel 2.0 Review

This season is old wine in an all-too-familiar bottle

Rony Patra -

Girls Hostel 2.0 Review
Platform
Sony Liv
Platform Icons Click To Stream
Format
Original Series Review
Movie Rated
Genre
DRAMA
Language
Hindi

What is the story about?

The second season follows the adventures of Jo, Richa, Mili and Zahira in the Dental girls' hostel at SVM University in Pune, as they struggle to bring about change for the greater good. But will they keep their equilibrium intact?

Analysis

TVF's school/college dramedies have been a staple of pop culture in India over the past few years, and to their credit, no other creator transcends geographical and linguistic barriers in their depiction of interpersonal dynamics in this space as well as they do. However, these dramedies are, more often than not, concerned with life inside the campus. This is where Girls Hostel 2.0 falls into the trap of familiarity. In its first season, the humour and writing was on point, and the performances were believable. Here, in spite of decent performances, you keep yearning for this show to delve more into other issues women have to face outside the campus. While eve-teasing is only barely touched upon, it only serves as a filler for the union elections, which provide some of the most drab portions in the show. You wish the makers had been more adventurous and gone into darker territory, instead of playing it safe. Overall, it's a passable season.

Performances

The performances are decent. Srishti Shrivastava, Ahsaas Channa, Parul Gulati and Simran Natekar keep the camaraderie alive in the roles of the four leads. Shreya Mehta suitably glowers as bete-noire Ramya. But it's the senior actresses who provide the surprises. Trupti Khamkar is wonderful as the Warden who becomes supportive in the second half, while Jayati Bhatia's Dean intriguingly shifts from being submissively pacifist to overtly manipulative.

Music & Other Departments

TVF veteran Vaibhav Bundhoo does an okay job with the background score.

Highlights

The opening episode of the season, ending with that riduculously-raucous cliffhanger, is neatly done.

Drawbacks

The portions in the middle talking about the elections feel just out of place, and considerably drag down the narrative.

Did I enjoy it?

I found it okay.

Do I recommend it?

You can watch it if you like the first season. Don't expect anything life-changing, though.

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