I will never be a snob about Chetan Bhagat’s writing or his popularity,
for I would be lying if I say that I didn’t enjoy his earlier works and I would
be forever be thankful to him for igniting my interest in reading. These days,
books about campus love stories, friendship and other petty screw-ups are a
dime in a dozen, but Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone was probably the first
and may even be the only one at that time that tackled these issues, that too
at an IIT. That should also explain why other impostors failed, while his brand still hasn't waned yet
My fiction reading in my graduation days was limited only to the cheap
paperbacks I bought from roadside vendors and most of them were written by
Agatha Christie, Sidney Sheldon, Harold Robins, and James Hadley Chase et al. So
when I first saw the book titled Five Point Someone, I didn’t understand what
it could be about. I have no idea about CGPA, but on closer look it had the
tagline “What Not to do at an IIT.” My curiosity rose a bit and I read the
blurb. It was modestly priced at 95 bucks, so I didn’t have to think much for
buying it.
Needless to say, that I enjoyed it immensely and I knew I would be
checking his other book “One Night at a Call Center” immediately. I liked that
one too as it mostly dealt with people I felt I know closely, in part because
those were the early days of my first job. Bhagat was a national phenomenon by
then and wherever I went, people were raving about his works and I personally
recommended the two books to some of my friends, who had equally great things
to say about them.
So much fuss has been made about the lack of “literary merit” in his
books, but I don’t like to give much thought about it, since he has got a story
and he choose to tell it in the manner which gets the point across to his
target readers. In my opinion, any artist to be popular in our country, he has
to know his own strengths and weaknesses, should have a definite understanding
of what he aims to do with this work and who his work is targeted at. Chetan
Bhagat checks all these criteria emphatically, and so it is not baffling to see
why he is so popular. His contribution
in bringing reading into vogue and even managing to make it a part of our pop
culture can’t be ignored. While his books resort to escapist optimism, it can’t
be denied that they have had positive influence on more people than the number
of critics, whom he never set out to please in the first place.
Chetan Bhagat always reminds me of my Mathematics Lecturer from my
Intermediate. His tuition classes were hugely popular and his house used to be
brimming with students from all parts of our town. Yet he only had a graduate
degree in mathematics, not even engineering. He is more popular than me and
helped many students, I included, graduating into higher studies. If I say, he doesn’t
have a Post Graduate Degree from a Foreign University and hence has no business
being as popular as he is, I’m missing the point by a long way.
***
Written for Indispire Edition 38:What
makes Chetan Bhagat so popular? What do the other lesser known talented
Indian writers need to do to get the same recognition? #5pointAgenda
I like the honesty in this post, and that you have reasoned out to yourself (and to your readers) why you like him. However, I dislike that you confuse literary-critical commentary/views about his talk shows/opinions about his op-eds as snobbery.
ReplyDeleteWas good to read this.
I was only writing about his books. I read only a couple of his columns on TOI and I don't think he should be doing them. I feel the same way about his twitter feed too. But, this post was only limited to his fiction
DeleteIf I would be writing on this topic...my words would be strangely very similar to that of yours...
ReplyDeleteI don't miss a chance to argue with anyone who speaks against Chetan Bhagat.
Surprising it is when I ask which books of his you read.
They say "None"
Herd Psychology!
I don't bother to get into arguments on CB. This is where I get to express what I feel and this post should really be the end of all arguments about CB as far as I'm concerned
DeleteThe thing is, CB knows how to commercialize his works. His works are like YRF films..everybody criticizes them for their showoff and emotional extravaganza but still, seldom one misses a movie :-P
ReplyDeleteI would say he is Salman Khan of Books, rather than YRF :P
DeleteI never read any of his books,so i can't comment on his writing ability,but I loved the movies 2-states and 3-idiots. I loved the latter the most. I agree that he created a brand for himself , which is good indeed.
ReplyDelete3 Idiots was somewhat different from the book, but 2 States is very much a straightforward adaptation. His brand was his own creation, so he deserves some praise after all
DeleteI have read his first four books till 2 states and have enjoyed them...But I dont think I am going to read anymore of his works...The only problem is that CB's works encouraged many ppl to read, but most of these people are still reading the same stuff, belonging to the same genre. They don't evolve as readers and so thousands of new authors are read even if they write utter crap
ReplyDelete