General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Hostel Daze

Hostel Daze (हॉस्टल डेज़) is an Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama web series created by Saurabh Khanna for the studio The Viral Fever (TVF) and streamed on Amazon Prime Video, following four engineering students through their hostel years from the first semester to final-year placements. It premiered on 13 December 2019 and ran for four seasons, ending on 27 September 2023.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Created by	Saurabh Khanna; produced by Arunabh Kumar for The Viral Fever³
Platform	Amazon Prime Video, launched across 200 countries and territories¹
Seasons	4 seasons, 21 episodes of roughly 30 to 32 minutes each (2019–2023)³^•⁴
Season dates	S1: 13 December 2019; S2: 23 July 2021; S3: 16 November 2022; S4: 27 September 2023⁵^•²
Main cast	Nikhil Vijay, Luv Vispute, Shubham Gaur, Ahsaas Channa, Ayushi Gupta; Adarsh Gourav (S1–S2) and Utsav Sarkar (S3–S4) as Ankit⁶
IMDb rating	8.5/10 from about 24,000 votes; 1 win and 15 nominations⁷
Remake	Telugu as Hostel Days (2023), directed by Aditya Mandala⁸

Spoilers

Premise

The series is set in the hostel of an Indian engineering college and follows four first-year wing-mates, Ankit Pandey, Chirag Bansal, Rupesh Bhati (known as Jaat), and Jatin Kishore (known as Jhantoo), as they survive their first semester amid ragging, end-semester exams, and hostel traditions.¹^•⁹ Jhantoo is written as a "veteran fresher" who has been in first year for four years, the resident senior who holds the hostel's dark secrets, while the other three are new students finding their place.¹⁰^•¹¹

Across the seasons the characters age with the show. Season 1 covers the first semester and the freshers' initiation; seasons 2 and 3 shift the group into the authoritative role of seniors; season 4 follows the final year, with Akanksha serving as placement coordinator, Chirag and Nabomita in a relationship, and the others facing recruitment tests, breakups, and farewells.⁶^•¹²

Seasons and production

Season run. Season 1, a five-episode series directed by Raghav Subbu, premiered on 13 December 2019. Season 2 (four episodes) arrived on 23 July 2021, directed by Amir Musanna and Sangram Naiksatam. Season 3 (six episodes) premiered on 16 November 2022 under Abhinav Anand and Sachin Negi, and the six-episode fourth and final season, directed by Abhinav Anand, debuted on 27 September 2023.⁵^•²^•¹³

Casting change. Adarsh Gourav played Ankit Pandey in the first two seasons and was replaced by Utsav Sarkar from season 3 onward; the other principal roles kept their actors throughout.⁶ The supporting cast includes Ahsaas Channa as Akanksha, Ayushi Gupta as Nabomita, Harsha Chemudu as Ravi Teja, and Sahil Verma as Rakhi.⁶

Style. Reviewers describe the show as a string of intimately observed vignettes rather than a plot-driven serial, in keeping with TVF's approach in series such as Kota Factory and Aspirants, with themes of friendship, sophomoric humor, and pop philosophy from mentors.¹⁴ Season 4 breaks the fourth wall with guest actors including Faisal Malik, Gopal Dutt, Jamini Pathak, and Deven Bhojani narrating campus life.¹²

Reception

The series holds an 8.5/10 rating on IMDb from about 24,000 votes, with 1 win and 15 nominations in total.⁷ Per-episode ratings vary by season: season averages run 8.5 (S1), 6.9 (S2), 7.0 (S3), and 8.7 (S4), with the finale episode "Hostel Departure" the highest rated at 9.3.⁴ Critics gave the first season 3 out of 5, calling it a breezy, relatable watch that offered little that was new, while the season 4 review in The Times of India described it as a nostalgic farewell that handled final-year themes of placements, breakups, and farewells with maturity.¹¹^•¹²

The show has drawn criticism for its portrayal of ragging. A Rolling Stone India review argued that the series normalizes hazing, depicting ragging even in episodes where it is not the main theme, and shows the birthday-bumps tradition (GPL, gaand pe laat) carried out over a character's objections.¹⁵ A 2024 academic analysis of profanity in top-rated Indian web series noted that in Hostel Daze abusive language is often used for humor.¹⁶

Remakes and context

The format traveled across Indian languages: TVF remade the series in Telugu as Hostel Days, directed by Aditya Mandala and released on Prime Video on 13 July 2023.⁸ Within TVF's catalog, Hostel Daze sits alongside Kota Factory, Aspirants, and Pitchers as part of the studio's young-adult campus and career slate, and it is frequently listed among shows recommended to viewers of Kota Factory.¹⁴^•¹⁷

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Indian and South Asian web series › Premiered 2003 to 2020

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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