Book Review: CHETAN BHAGAT

One night at a Call Centre was Chetan Bhagat’s second book and the first among his works that I read. It was probably well-received by the readers and got Bhagat his now-huge fan-base as he was one of the few Indian writers who made his story so effortlessly believable as he took on reality through fiction. That definitely went down well with the readers, as this was the first time where an author spoke from the heart through his characters, about the things the youth connected with. From the lucid language used to the associable daily-life descriptions in his debut novel, Bhagat struck the right chord with Young India. The “call from God” at the end of the book dint provide for a strong and appreciable close, but he had already done enough to win the hearts of several thousand young, modern Indians.

His first book (and by far his best book) was Five Point Someone. Because it wasn’t about some regular love story or a depressing suicide attempt. It was realistic, a unique concept in terms of the fact that it chooses the graduating-student setup as the storyline. It’s about what many students of India actually experience in their real lives. You could probably argue that as a student I relate to it better but the fact remains that compared to his other books, even the sarcasm, the storytelling and the characters seem generally more believable. And I’m giving the shortest review for what I liked the most, because, there is hardly anything to be critical about or even rant or rave about for this book..you need to simply read and enjoy it.

Three Mistakes of My Life..Ughh! The whole suicide angle, the downfall in the business, the losing- your- friend-coz –you- slept- with- his- sister-and-now-you are-so-regretting-it stuff ….Depressing and Disappointing. Those are the best words I could describe it with. Why Bhagat even makes an attempt to spice things up with a totally not-believable-for -the –average-youth -of- Gujarat sex scene is beyond me. Such a detailed explanation of it (taking into account the story’s backdrop and psyche of characters involved) was completely uncalled for. Not just the fact that he actually begins the story by claiming that a suicidal fan wrote to him, of all the people in the world, but also the claim that he flew some thousand miles to meet him is even fictionally not acceptable. It was a dull story with no real strong reason to make a person read with interest. This is why his third book happens to be my least-favorite among the four books.
After a couple of years or so, the fourth book “Two States “was out. Didn’t have the highest of hopes after 3 Mistakes, but I definitely dint regret reading this one. Typical Bollywood love story on paper, that’s the easiest description for it. Bhagat claims it is partly his own real life story. The backdrop where Krish and Ananya meet and fall in love is IIM-A. What’s interesting to note is that, in an institution with the repute of IIM-A, live-in –relationships go unnoticed by the hostel authorities as Ananya and Krish happily live together in the boys hostel without even the mention of being caught. The author describes is to be like a very normal occurrence.
'Fiction’, you might point out for argument’s sake. So what made the book a hit? Of course, the way Bhagat talks to you through Krish’s character. He has this amazing ability to connect with the youth through the way by which he describes emotions. The sarcasm, the feelings, the humor and the simple originality of his descriptions strike a chord with you. The story has some parts which seem to be a bit provocative towards Tamilians, but of course, Bhagat downplays that at the very beginning itself. The story does have a happy ending just like a Bollywood movie, with an original and correct description of a Tamil Brahmin wedding. The Tamilian flavor made for a good laugh at most times, as I,for one could relate with it better than a person of another culture/language would have. Predictably, it had a fairy tale ending, which was the purpose of the book, I guess, to show that in spite of the difficulties of an inter-caste relationship that lead to a marriage, in the end, everything just works out fine.
Chetan Bhagat has made his mark in the modern Indian literary circles and also in the heart's of this country’s youth.