A.R.Ts (123) - Why do we hate Chetan Bhagat?

A.R.Ts (123)

There are some authors I read for the beauty of their language. The lyrical quality of their writing. Jhumpa Lahiri, Amitava Ghosh. Khaled Hosseini. There are others I read as a wannabe writer. Just to satisfy my "if he can do it, so can I" feeling that crops up every once in a while. Chetan Bhagat falls in this second category. And he is back in the circuit with his latest release Half Girlfriend. Right from its title to the rich babe dating village boy theme the book is a hollow lackluster wannabe Bollywood film which Ekta Kapoor will produce shortly.

But I expect that from Bhagat, the man who has grown from strength to strength on hate and ridicule. For every bad book he writes, a blockbuster film is made. For every hate post on him, his twitter follower count trebles. For every time we cringe when he is called the voice of young India, he pens yet another column in a leading daily.

What I don't understand is this - Just why do we hate Chetan Bhagat so much?

Take a look at cinema. You have a Rohit Shetty for every Satyajit Ray. A Sajid Khan for every Prakash Jha. A Govinda for every Aamir Khan. We happily proclaim "Leave your brains behind and watch Chennai Express". Why don't we do the same for Bhagat's books? Why don't we allow him to claim his space as an author? Is it because movies are for the masses and books are for a more elite audience? Or is it because has he has democratised English and made it accessible to so many more people, that the book snobs who grew up on a daily diet of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens suddenly feel their homes have been invaded and they now have to share it with lesser human beings?

Because that's what Bhagat has done. In publicly saying that he counts Candy Crush and Whatssap as his competitors, he has, in effect acknowledged that he is perfectly happy for his book to be that filler when we are taking a smartphone break. I know a lot of people who have read only ten books in their lifetime, of which atleast three are Bhagat's. They didn't care for lyrical prose, they were just looking for a story and a style they could relate to. In between flights. Before dozing off at night. Or for a lazy afternoon on the couch.

I'm not a fan of Bhagat's books because I don't particularly fancy love stories. And atleast two of his books I read were the boy meets girl romance. But I'm a big fan of people who have the courage to follow their dreams. I'm a fan of people who make it on their own. I'm a fan of people who can go on in the face of so much hate and ridicule (I know our politicians also fall in this bucket, but there are other compelling reasons why I am not their fan)

Keep going Chetan Bhagat. Remember that if a lot of the so-called book snobs and elites of the world can shake their leg to "Aata maajhi satakli" in a club, then maybe they are reading your book in between covers, hoping never to be caught. Maybe for every one hater, you actually have three closeted followers.

To more bad titles. Bad prose. Bad books. To Courage. Strength. Perseverance.