The Chetan Bhagat debate

Chetan Bhagat is a phenomenon. For some he’s a lowbrow phenomenon of tailored-for-market, shallow literature. For others he’s a college buddy, a mentor and a game changer.

There is no middle ground between Chetan Bhagat lovers and haters. Many a budding friendship and blossoming affair have been nipped in the bud if either person revealed affiliation to the opposite camp early on.  

I propose a hiatus to the war and a violence-free discussion between the two parties to settle the matter once and for all.

Opinion 1 - Chetan Bhagat is lowbrow 

Most great literature is about love and loss. The two themes have fascinated literary geniuses of all time. Anyone who can give us insight or succor against the emotions that these two themes engender in us is guaranteed to have their names in the literary halls of fame.

Chetan Bhagat on the other hand, writes about engineering students, call-centre employees, intercultural marriage and entrepreneurship.

I understand these are concerns that don’t quite touch the same philosophical heights as love and loss, but it’d be a heart made of materials imported from China that has never felt anxiety over their IIT-JEE all India rank, worry about a fledgling business or heartbreak because their girlfriend married someone else from her own state. While his books aren’t at the epicentre of the next great philosophy and insight into human nature, they manage to strike a chord with the Indian youth and the concerns topmost on their minds.

Opinion 2 - Chetan Bhagat has spawned an industry of college romances written in atrocious English

This is true. As is the fact that Gavaskar has spawned a generation of wannabe cricket commentators who can’t tell between a cricket bat and a blood-sucking vampire bat. A successful and popular vein of literature/science/music will attract market-minded prospectors. They will dig as much as possible while the gold rush lasts. It’s hardly the pioneer’s fault if the subsequent prospectors aren’t up to the mark. An easy solution to this epidemic is to just read the plot summary before buying a book.

But Chetan Bhagat’s success has also managed to inspire some good Indian English authors such as Ira Trivedi, Karan Bajaj, Sajita Nair and others.

Opinion 3 - Chetan Bhagat has limited appeal

Chetan Bhagat’s books are about average young people in India and some of their most frequently encountered problems - a flawed education system, lack of employment, difficulties in business etc. More than 70% of the Indian population is under the age of 35. Every sixth student in India is enrolled in an engineering or technology program. With youngsters from all over India converging in industrial and commercial centres like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi for jobs, intercultural love affairs are more common than ever. With his books covering all these issues, Chetan Bhagat's appeal among Indian readers is not entirely without justification.

Opinion 4 - Chetan Bhagat has no solution for the problems he points out

I’d have to agree with this one wholeheartedly, and this fact is most apparent in his non-fiction. His articles, essays, tweets and other assorted exhortations compiled in his non-fiction book What young India wants is full of juvenile, simplistic and dilettantish “essays” about how to change India. Let’s hope he keeps doing what he can do - storytelling.

In Chetan Bhagat, we have a good storyteller talking about the more prosaic, but no less significant Indian issues. We have a fiction author who delivers what he promises - an entertaining story about us and our problems. We also have a wannabe statesman - but who isn’t one nowadays?

Chetan Bhagat’s 'Half Girlfriend' will be launched on October 1, 2014 at Landmark, Infiniti Mall, Andheri.

Piyush Tainguriya has studied mechanical engineering, has taught English, Math and Logical Reasoning and is now a copywriter.