Chetan Bhagat : The Master Story Teller Of Our Times

I didn't read Chetan Bhagat's earlier four novels as I thought that the modern marketing strategies were behind the media hype and popularity of his works. But I could not do the same for his fifth book due to the compulsion of my friends. When I got the book packet from the courier agent, I could not stop reading it and that day I was in a trance of reading a very good novel of recent times. Soon after reading it, what I had done was to order his earlier four novels.

Chetan Bhagat's most striking feature as a novelist is his simple, transparent, and unadorned language which even a secondary grade student can easily comprehend. His language is so enjoyable that it flows smoothly without any burden of metaphysical or existential philosophies and even a layman can follow his world of fiction where reading does not become a tiresome endeavor which only the academic elite can participate.

The novels of Chetan Bhagat revolve around the world of Indian middle class, the real force behind India's economic growth, where lies the secret of his success also. The aspirations, anxieties, as well as the sad predicament of the middle class is depicted with a omniscient insider's view in his novels. Being a member of the same strata of the society, he is revealing what he or persons familiar to him have experienced in real life and the borders of fiction and real life blurs in his novels. The corruption, unemployment, the materialistic attitudes of the elder generation, the superficial love- hate relationships among the youths are the some of the themes that he has discussed in his novels. The highest ideals and ethics of Indian democracy which are really on the cross roads at present because of the all pervading corruption and self destructive tendencies in the society and the protest of middle class for the sorry state of affairs of the country can also be seen in his novels.

The tone of the author towards his readers is also worth mentioning. He shows a conversational intimacy towards his readers throughout the narration. He is not an outsider in the story, but in all of his novels we can identify the presence of a man who went through all of the similar situations what he narrates. The lack of distance between the reader and author is one of the reason for the greater fascination for his novels among the readers.

His books have the power to compel the readers to complete it in one sitting. The readability is the yard stick of success of a writer. Chetan Bhagat's novels has abundance of that quality which is generally absent in many of the so called famous authors. His books may not rank as the greatest, but they, no doubt, are far ahead of them in popularity.

"Five Point Some One" is Chetan bhagat's first novel which was published in 2004. This novel has fictionalized his IIT experiences with tinge of love and comedy. By the very first work itself, he could made mark in the realms of Indian English fiction. His second novel, "One Night @ the Call Center", depicts the trails and tribulations of the life of call center employees. "The 3 Mistakes of My Life", his third novel, centers round politics and riots which is not unfamiliar to India at any point of time." 2 States" is a life story than a fiction. It presents the problems protagonist had to face to marry a girl from the south which clearly delineates the south - north divide in the culture and attitudes of people even though how much they are educated.

"Revolution 2020", the latest of his novels, has broken the sales record of his own earlier novels. It is has come out when the anti - corruption movement is at its zenith, which also deals with more or less the same theme. The love, corruption and failures in the life of middle class youth is the main undercurrent of the plot of that novel.

The Revolution 2020, the much acclaimed best seller of Chetan Bhagat, candidly presents a replica of India of our times. This novel is a scathing attack on corruption and middle class hypocrisy without any reservations.

The plot of the novel is based on the three childhood friends. Both Ragav and Gopal love Arati. The failure in the entrance exam for engineering courses and subsequent death of his father makes the life of Gopal miserable. He f becomes a director of engineering college by the help Sukla,a corrupt politician. He selects the path of corruption and manages the ill gotten money of the MLA. He can win the love of Arati also. But his notions of victory change in the end.

The recent anti corruption movement also echoes in this novel by the crusade of Ragav against the Sukla MLA ,who stands for the corruption incarnated of Indian politics. When he is jailed for the scam, he tells to Ragav "Six months maximum. Plus they get me everything. You want to eat from Taj Ganga ?" It is not surprise to those who follows Indian polity. Chetan Bhagat, shares his own attitude and anxiety by him.

The total sales of Chethan Bhagat books is a record which a very few writers of any language can be proudly claim in their career as a writer. His two novels has become story line for two blockbuster movies: "Five Point Some One" in the name of " 3 idiots" and "One Night @ the Call Center" in the name of "Hello". We can expect more such wonders from him.

The names of 5 five published novels of Chetan Bhagat are given to find out the best novel from it. You are requested to select your choice. You can post your opinions in the Feed Back. Comments and critical opinions are welcome.