The book may be titled 'Half Girlfriend' but had a full front page ad in TOI from Flipcart. No half measures in promotion there, you see? Looks like the IIT/IIM alumnus has gradually become the messiah of the Indian middle class youth ,going by the theme of his novels.
One thing you have to hand to him is that he has not vanished into oblivion as many of his ilk have- after hitting the jackpot at the very first draw.Instead, he has churned out regular fare ever since, keeping of course his and the publishers tills ringing. I know of folks who proudly 'claim' to have read 'all' of Chetan Bhagat in the same way school kids declare to have read the entire Harry Potter series.I also know of GD/PI trainers advising students to read up at least one book of CB just so they can confidently state book-reading as one of their hobbies and sound profound ( yet not come across as too erudite that the interviewer feels inadequate and wreaks vengeance with poor grades).
The writing per se may not deserve the hype surrounding him. But sample these- 4 out of the 5 published works have already been made into movies.Two featuring two of the Khan triumvirate, one of which a benchmark for box office;the third one launching the cine career of three new comers and yet another featuring the current matinee heart throbs and the last one on the floors already. Now how many of the current crop of fiction writers can match or challenge that? Before you brush him aside in a hurry as relevant only to the middle class youth with their existential angst in education, employment, romance..remember, he gets to be a panelist on prime time TV talk shows and shares his two cents on a popular national daily as well. PR on overdrive may be..?
Make no mistake, CB is the equivalent of vanilla ice cream to book reading indians- nothing exotic or special, no pretext of high brow ideology, not at all pricy, light on the mind and the pocket. Nothing more ,nothing less.
The writing per se may not deserve the hype surrounding him. But sample these- 4 out of the 5 published works have already been made into movies.Two featuring two of the Khan triumvirate, one of which a benchmark for box office;the third one launching the cine career of three new comers and yet another featuring the current matinee heart throbs and the last one on the floors already. Now how many of the current crop of fiction writers can match or challenge that? Before you brush him aside in a hurry as relevant only to the middle class youth with their existential angst in education, employment, romance..remember, he gets to be a panelist on prime time TV talk shows and shares his two cents on a popular national daily as well. PR on overdrive may be..?
Make no mistake, CB is the equivalent of vanilla ice cream to book reading indians- nothing exotic or special, no pretext of high brow ideology, not at all pricy, light on the mind and the pocket. Nothing more ,nothing less.
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