In Tharun Bhasker's 2018 film Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi, four best friends rekindle the lost spark in their friendship when they participate in a short filmmaking festival. Though the story behind the reason to enter the competition is slightly convoluted, the film attempts to make a case for friends helping one another in realising individual passions. Nithin Krishnamurthy's film Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare uses a similar element - the making a short film - as one of its core ideas, but only that it's not attempting to endorse bonhomie as the Telugu film does. True, the new Kannada film mirrors the same ethos of male bonding and its many quirks, but unlike Tharun Bhasker's film, there's no clear protagonist here, nor is it based on a story that takes itself seriously. If anything, Nithin Krishnamurthy and Co. are more interested in parodying themselves at every given chance.
Perhaps that is why the film breeds so much chaos, largely because the world is so dense and also self-controlled. Self-controlled in a way that the camera, or the point of view, is entirely handled by the characters. And dense because it is set in a huge boys' college hostel where the night before a semester exam turns on its head to throw one curve ball after another. Just as in the Telugu film, it all begins with the idea of making a short film.
Ajith (Prajwal BP) wants to make a short film but his gang believes his idea is lacking of two things - a story and a structure. He still conjures up a plan that's destined to fail but he unwittingly also ends up pulling his friends into his doomsday conspiracy. A "crime" of some kind is committed in the belly of the vast hostel campus and the select few boys, and their hostel warden, are now in the thick of it. I won't get into specifics about how the warden is involved but what's important is to know that this group must evade the eyes of all the few other hundred hostel boys and close the night on the right side of the law.
The main charm of Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare lies in this setup. Each frame, thanks to the number of important characters employed by the script, can be found bustling with energy, noise, and some kind of riveting action. It helps that Nithin Krishnamurthy is clear about his intent to not make the film just about the plot but also the little moments. Almost at every turn, we are presented with a set of characters who add to the vibrancy of the narrative and before we even realise it, the film has inched towards a peak point.
It is highly likely that one walks out of Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare discussing the exciting "twist" at the interval block and there's a reason why that particular portion is so effective. The film is made up of a number of small subversions up till that point and the world that is built around the story too, is so rich and quirky that there's a lot to absorb. The one-liners, the jarring camera movements, and the inclusion of highly relatable characters just add to the experience.
The way the camera is utilised in Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare, too, is one of its main strengths. The whole film is told in the POV style and the same point-of-view is exchanged almost like a baton. While the main camera handles the core plot of the film, Nithin Krishnamurthy often switches to smaller ancillary plots through devices like Facebook Live or video calling, sticking to the same storytelling technique throughout. However, this also gives rise to the problem of plenty for the writer-director who ends up overstuffing his narrative with a few unnecessary subplots in order to achieve a climax that's fitting of the superb premise.
And this hunt for the glorious climax also leaves the second half of the film a little muddled because the writing is no longer able to keep pace with the expectations of the audience. Instead, the film throws up a series of contrivances that are entertaining for sure, but not inventive enough as before. One such mishit, in my opinion, is the usage of popular actress Ramya as this "eye candy", who appears on the screen periodically as different emoji each time around (at least, that's what I gather).
Regardless, Hostel Hudugaru Bekagiddare works tremendously well because of the way it is executed. Arvind Kashyap (of 777 Charlie, Kantara fame), who serves as one of the many characters as the man behind the camera, captures the chaos and the energy with great skill and lends that 'professional' touch that the film direly needed. The cast of the film, led by Prajwal BP, Manjunath Naik (the warden), Rakesh Rajkumar, Srivatsa, Tejas, and several others (including Nithin Krishnamurthy himself as the stoner senior 'Genie'), elevates the story to a new high and takes the onus to retain that energy throughout the film.
Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Neither TNM nor any of its reviewers have any sort of business relationship with the film’s producers or any other members of its cast and crew.