Thursday, October 27, 2011

Revolution 2020 - Chetan Bhagat

Revolution 2020 - Love.Corruption.Ambition screams the title!
Start reading the book and you really wonder what made Chetan write such a mediocre "tale" (if you can call it a tale). There is no essence in the plot (if you can call it a plot), no soul in the message (if you can consider it as a message) and nothing to look forward to the narration. This book is full of crap, which has got nothing to substantiate the elements given in the tag line or the title. You have to put a deliberate effort to read the book because you have paid for it. The only saving grace (if you can call it grace) is that this book is better than One Night @ the Call Center.

The story revolves around three friends, two guys and a gal, begins from their school days, and culminates when the gal marries one of the guys. Why the gal chooses her husband is one strand of the story. The other strand is how both the guys succeed in their ambition, one who craves for money/power (the main protagonist) and the other who fights corruption. The supporting cast includes an ailing father who wants his son to become an engineer, a situation about the coaching classes and hostel life where the author is an expert, a politician who does his usual job, and Varanasi, where the drama (if you can call it drama) unfolds. Then there is the education system, a couple of escapades of the love birds and the major sacrifice (which was typical for Bollywood movies till date). What you don't have in the entire book (no, I will never call it a novel) is substance. There is neither wit nor humor, there is neither suspense nor drama and there is neither love nor passion.

If this piece of work can get the tag of a novel, then anyone with a little knowledge in the Queen's language can become a novelist. Sorry Mr. Bhagat, but the book is a complete let down. Let's hope that you deliver something to match the caliber of Two States if not Five Point Someone.