This author is hated, and how!
Disclaimer: I am not a fan of Chetan Bhagat’s novels.
I picked up this topic which was in the back of my mind for quite a few days, as a result of Smartacus’ comment to my previous post.
He would probably win The most berated author award of 2004. Nevertheless, his debut novel Five point someone was a bestseller and made his publishers Rupa rich enough to come back to him for a second run.
The book was torn apart in the hands of professional book-reviewers, who blamed its success to be a stroke of luck. Yet, he won the Society Young Achiever's award in 2004 as well as the Publisher's Recognition award in 2005.
He was slandered by the sensitive media for delivering a book with no literary content. But he has a consistent fan following. Proof? His second attempt One Night @ The Call Centre was also a bestseller.
Why do most people hate Chetan Bhagat? I can’t really say. I personally thought that Five point someone was a well-packaged piece of crap; a story about silly students making a fool of themselves over silly things, written in a silly style did appeal to me. Having said that, I would not go back and read another of Chetan’s novels because I now know it is not definitely my cuppa tea. However, asking David Dhawan to make movies like Shyam Benegal is not done.
Why are reading books made to sound such a serious affair? There are people who read books for a living; there are people who read books as a passion; and, there are people who read books to just have a good time. Chetan Bhagat does not really claim to write great novels that would be path-breaking in the field of Indian English literature; in fact, he says in a recent interview that he hardly reads books. In my opinion, he marks the beginning of a new genre in IWEs- Commercial Indian literature. I look at the positive side: these kinds would probably bring the IT-crazy urban Indian back to reading books, and also, probably a fresh set of talent, as the stage is all set for an era of unprofessional writers!
22 comments:
Whatever critic say abt Chetan Bhagat, its a fact that his simple style and his way of story telling strikes a common chord with avg. indian. hmmmm u are right saying
story about silly students making a fool of themselves over silly things
yup but these type of silly students do exist in any engg college...and they do much more absurd thing defining any reason and logic. When I read it I was compelled to write abt it..
http://indianspirit.blogspot.com/2005/12/five-point-someone.html
let me guess.....
u have never been in an IIT, or even in an engineering college...
the silly things that he has described are parts and parcel of our life in IIT... the vodka n smoking on the roof, last minute submissions etc.
granted that his writing style is simple and can be called silly, but the storyline evokes a sense of belonging and nostalgia in every person, who has been in an engineering college...
And the people who have made the book into a bestseller are not fools...
One night at a call centre is a well packaged piece of bullshit ....... if it were honestly and only that it wouldn't matter, but what I have hated the most is the hype in the initial few pages about the book being a story of "real indian youth". Far from it.
The characters are so stereotyped, it's all so cliche (filmi being the right word).
And a true story following the book... an acquaintance of mine in the US in his late 20s (almost 30) who's always been a "nice guy" focussed all his life only on academics and job, like the quintessential "cultured, decent" middle class boy had his parents and relatives scrounging about for a bride in India.... there was a girl among the many he chatted with online, he was almost going to be engaged to her, when suddenly he read this crappy book and was plagued with extreme bouts of insecurity about both - his own continued virginal status and the imagined/real "adventures" that the call centre working prespective bride of his had indulged in. So a strict notice was sent to his folks in India - no call centre wife please.
Of course this has nothing to do with the book - its just an extreme case of insecurity.... but nevertheless you get the point when a piece of crap is marketed as "real".
manish: read your review of the book, and was reflecting on what one of my friends had said, "it is an Indian English guy-book after such a long time... so they have to be given the space to celebrate it..."
abhimir: please don't take it that personally ;]
anonymous: thats a really sad story, though i would more target the mishap towards your friend's foolishness [no offense intended] than the book's "story of real indian youth" label...
i dont mind being called mindless....but i loved five point someone...it remnded me of engg coll dayzzz....though not an IIT....when people cant achieve thgs they slate others..coz tatz the only thing that they can do....
im not a brainy
Since this blog entry has been written in response to my comments on Chetan Bhagat, I thought i sud pen down some words. I can't disagree that Anu has made a valid point that his books have satiated the tastes of an average indian reader. Of course they have...movies like Kabhi Khushi..., Aksar etc are superhits while 15 park avenue and Matrubhoomi cudn't garner much popularity from the average indian -just an analogy.
If the era of unprofessionalism has really come in as Anu mentions, I will be benefitting a lot from it. Chetan Bhagat's book was but a well expressed plot of events with lot of masalas, a long blog entry so to say. Besides, the IIT tag helped him (my friends here at IIT Kgp are unanimous on this...iit tag helps a lot in many a career paths).
Even I am contemplating encashing on this surge of unprofessionalism. I guess I can collect some of my blog entries and volume them into a collection of stories on campus. nd i am serious -in fact i hav started the search for a good literary agent :)
Nd Manish I wud suggest u a reading of Erich Segal's "The Class"
I liked Five point someone.....could not finish one night....I guess it would be simplistic but practical to judge the quality of the book and not the author....
Chetan Bhagat is for folks who read one book every year. Cant say if its good or bad though.
Am I interested in a 30+,IIT/IIM grad,investment banker telling me stories about "average" Indians?
No.
P.S: 11 Years in HongKong.
five point someone is fun..if u dont take it seriously
the remaining two r all crap no content ...overall chetan sucks
Hey, am from IIT delhi myself, second year. Read FPS in 11th and thought it was complete rubbish! Not only does Bhagat have a degraded sense of what girls are, he portrays them as being submissive, obedient, silly and shy. He hasn't mentioned a single girl in IIT and the only one he has mentioned is pursuing fashion studies! I mean, Come on!
To quote him: "She skipped forward in a silly way, which was probably her attempt to run toward me. She was barefoot." The girl then apologizes profusely to the guy, while "tucking her hair behind her ear" and "chuckling nervously."
Every page is filled with slang, abuses, drunk idiots and cheap tactics to attract attention and sell copies.
visit my site n read more bout his atrocities. http://menu123.wordpress.com
My bone with Chetan Bhagat is that he thrives on misinformation and stereotypes and passes them off as reality of IIT/IIM lives. What with 9 pointers being selfish and IIM profs grudging IIM grads' salary packages? Neither of them is true. Some of the best people I have met were 9 pointers, and IIM profs teach for their passion for academics, and they make lot of money through consultancy work.
And no, I don't think anything, just anything, can be passed off as humour. There is PGP woodhouse kind of humour, that doesn't need stereotypes, and there is Chetan Bhagat, just the opposite.
Having read 5 point someone, I have never touched any of his other books again.
(I happen to be IITK-IIMA grad so know a bit about IIT-IIM lives)
@Abhimir - Did you ? STFU ! I did and I probably am not as retarded to love the piece of crap Chetan serves hot. Suits you maybe !
@Abhimir - Are you for real btw ? Just because you had some vodka on the roof of the college building is that a reason enough to make you nostalgic ?
And btw - I love Chuck Norris movies ! They are so real at least ! Heard about him ? Makes me so nostalgic !
Well I acquiesce in but I about the collection should acquire more info then it has.
I inclination not acquiesce in on it. I regard as warm-hearted post. Expressly the designation attracted me to read the sound story.
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