Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend - Reviews

The name Chetan Bhagat now resounds with the entire young generation of the country. Everything from his famous novels to the columns he write for TOI, there's a (mind you) huge percentage of young reader base in India, who follows Chetan Bhagat, his tweets and his book religiously.

Today morning I heard of his new book that got released today. The book is titled 'Half Girlfriend'. It's a love story.

From what I read on Flipkart, it says the story is about a bihari guy named Madhav who falls with a rich girl from Delhi named Riya. Riya speaks English all the time and Madhav has a hard time forming sentence in the language. Madhav wants Riya to be his girlfriend but Riya disagrees. She wants them to be just friends.

They come up with an idea, which is their compromise, where she agrees to become his "half-girlfriend".

Just curious to know how many of you are curious, excited, anxious to read the new Chetan Bhagat novel.

PS: If anyone of you reads it soon, please do share a review.

PPS: Let us know if it's another script for next Bollywood Blockbuster.

Replies

  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    As you'd expect from Chetan Bhagat's book, Half Girlfriend is a out and out love story. Madhav, a typical boy from Bihar who's in love with Riya - a high class girl from Delhi city. Now that we've a plot set for a perfect Bollywood story, you can guess a few things like - Madhav isn't great at English while Riya's English is impeccable. Madhav dreams of having Riya as his girlfriend but Riya only wants to be 'just friends'.

    The love story takes a turn when Riya makes a suggestion that she will be Madhav's 'Half-Girlfriend'. How the story takes turns and twists is something you'll have to find out through the book. The story sheds focus on modern day relationships and also inspires the readers to bring your dreams to reality.

    Chetan-Bhagat-Half-Girlfriend-Review

    Chetan Bhagat's been one of the most read authors in India and has released several bestsellers. Though I personally do not like his books, the books have found a lot of readers among the college crowd! Will request readers to post their own reviews of the book here.

    The book's available on Flipkart for pre-order as of now. The book will be released in October and it looks like the marketing guys want to set a record of the pre-orders on Flipkart.
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    Not, sure about book but marketing rocks 👍👍👍
    Book is coming after two and half month and selling started right now. People will not mind spending INR. 149 right now just to think that they will be first reader.
    Here is prediction:
    Flipkart will sell out all copied before it be available online. there will be 2-3 weeks of bashing everywhere, and mean while Chetan Bhagat will earn more money than other book, become best seller book before most of people get to know how exactly the book is!!! ☕
  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    yeah. The hype is high and it definitely makes the crowd to go for it.i read all his stories and Revolution 2020 was my favorite. May be this one has more of Todays generation thoughts and lifestyles .Its all my guess but i May be wrong.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Let's play a game and try to guess the story? Shall we? Who wants to start? 😁
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Here are some of the funniest reactions to Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend on Twitter -

    @rameshsrivats
    Chetan Bhagat - 1st book: Five Point Someone. Last book: Point Five Someone.

    @ravihanda
    I wish I was evolved enough to be indifferent about Chetan's new novels. In the case of "Half-Girlfriend", even the title seems lazy.

    @Pushkar_Karn
    So, Chetan Bhagat is releasing "Half Girlfriend" in few days. I hope he releases the other half soon.
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Hey, I didn't know there is a teaser too!
    Check it out here -


    Looks like the people who don't speak English much, might find some connect with the book. Ironically, the book is written in English (expecting plenty of Hinglish though).
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    What a lame summary, looks like Chetan Bhagat is a Bihari writter😘
    Madhav is a Bihari boy with big dreams who falls in love with the beautiful Riya, a rich lass from Delhi. There are some fundamental differences between the two. Madhav’s English isn’t all that great, but Riya speaks the best English. Madhav wants Riya to be his girlfriend but Riya disagrees. She wants them to be just friends but he definitely wants more. Riya finally comes up with a suggestion, a compromise – she agrees to become his half-girlfriend!
    Bihari boy- WTF do you mean by Bihari boy. A guy who don't know english/poor/not fit in SMART definition of metro population or a guy who belong to a state which has given most number of IAS officer that suggests smartest people.
  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Anoop Kumar
    What a lame summary, looks like Chetan Bhagat is a Bihari writter😘


    Bihari boy- WTF do you mean by Bihari boy. A guy who don't know english/poor/not fit in SMART definition of metro population or a guy who belong to a state which has given most number of IAS officer that suggests smartest people.
    I second you on this!
    The main success is that his writing style which appeals to mass who don't want to read a high end English novel.
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    and here comes one more

    Delhi is Arvind Kejriwal's #-Link-Snipped-# 😁
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# Here are a few more -

    @siddtalks
    Actually Half Girlfriend is story of ongoing UPSC problem.one party knows English and other doesn't and they want to reach a compromise.

    The one from UnRealTimes is hilarious too -

    half-girlfriend1
  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# Here are a few more -

    @siddtalks
    Actually Half Girlfriend is story of ongoing UPSC problem.one party knows English and other doesn't and they want to reach a compromise.
    creative folks around the world are best to mix real life with trending topics!
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    I hate chetan bhagat.

    the very first words of his novels puts me to sleep.

    this guy is capable of cooking up all sorts of obnoxious stuff in his novels.

    From the summary of this book , it turns out that "half girl friend" is far more ridiculous than any of chetan bhagat's products.

    and why the hell is this guy so knee-deep in lovey-dovey stuff. !

    did he play with barbie dolls when he was young ?
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# I know a lot of people who would give the same reaction every time they hear about a Chetan Bhagat novel. Most others who love his books, say that they love the punch lines (which are mostly in Hinglish I presume.)

    And guess what people? People are searching for -
    "Download ChetanBhagat novel 2014"
    "Download half girlfriend in pdf"
    "Chetan Bhagat Half Girlfriend PDF download"

    Meh. The book isn't even released yet.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Bihari Boy - simply means 'a boy from Bihar' to me. I only wrote what the official description on Flipkart says. 😀.
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    Epic search phrase:
    download Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend 😁😁

    edit:
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Bihari Boy - simply means 'a boy from Bihar' to me. I only wrote what the official description on Flipkart says. 😀.
    I am implying to Chetan Bhagat for this.
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    Anoop Kumar
    Epic search phrase:
    download Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend 😁😁
    Smarter one will try this phrase: download Chetan Bhagat's Half Girlfriend for FREE. 😁
  • lal
    lal
    Anoop Kumar
    What a lame summary, looks like Chetan Bhagat is a Bihari writter😘


    Bihari boy- WTF do you mean by Bihari boy. A guy who don't know english/poor/not fit in SMART definition of metro population or a guy who belong to a state which has given most number of IAS officer that suggests smartest people.
    I'm no Chetan Bhagat fan on the first place. Anyway, Which line(s) exactly in the summary imply the definitions you said for a Bihari boy. You just made them up yourselves or you are reading between the lines.
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    In metros like Mumbai or Chennai, the word "bihari boy" translates to "chai wala"
  • Ambarish Ganesh
    Ambarish Ganesh
    I for one love this guy! 😁 Found Five Point Someone and 2 states very entertaining. Others not that much.
    Had met him at Mehboob Studios last winter (him and Vikas Swarup at the Times Literati Festival), and he never claims to be a literary genius. Simple guy, simple words. So people nitpicking and making fun of him may have their dose of escapist entertainment, he's not even giving a puck.

    That being said, just look at the way his narration gets adapted on the big screen (- referring to 3 Idiots and Kai Po Che here). Read the books, watch the movies, again went over a few chapters of the books. He actually provides a background detail which translates to beautiful screenplay (Kick screenplay sucked by the way, and so did Revolution 2020. 2 States movie was above average.). Now you may argue with points like filmmakers' vision and stuff, but all those are standing on the premise created by Bhagat. So there again.
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    I really hope someone starts guessing the story here. We have plenty of time till October. Even if we come half close to the actual novel, we will all have many reasons to brag. 😁
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    Let me start 😛

    Prologue
    ------------

    ‘They are your journals, you read them,’ I said to him.

    He shook his head.

    ‘Listen, I don’t have the time or patience for this,’ I said, getting irritated. Being a writer on a book tour doesn’t allow for much sleep—I had not slept more than four hours a night for a week. I checked my watch. ‘It’s midnight. I gave you my view. It’s time for me to sleep now.’

    ‘I want you to read them,’ he said.

    We were in my room at the Chanakya Hotel, Patna. This morning, he had tried to stop me on my way out. Then he had waited for me all day; I had returned late at night to find him sitting in the hotel lobby.

    ‘Just give me five minutes, sir,’ he had said, following me into the lift. And now here we were in my room as he pulled out three tattered notebooks from his backpack.

    The spine of the books came apart as he plonked them on the table. The yellowing pages fanned out between us. The pages had handwritten text, mostly illegible, as the ink had smudged. Many pages had holes in them, rats having snacked on them.

    An aspiring writer, I thought.

    ‘If this is a manuscript, please submit it to a publisher. However, do not send it in this state,’ I said.

    ‘I am not a writer. This is not a book.’
    ‘It’s not?’ I said, lightly touching a crumbling page. I looked up at him. Even seated, he was tall. Over six feet, he had a sunburnt, outdoor ruggedness about him. Black hair, black eyes and a particularly intense gaze. He wore a shirt two sizes too big for his lean frame. He had large hands. He reassembled the notebooks, gentle with his fingers, almost caressing the pages.
    ‘What are these books?’ I said.

    ‘I had a friend. These are her journals,’ he said.

    ‘Her journals. Ah! A girlfriend?’

    ‘Half-girlfriend.’

    ‘What?’

    He shrugged.

    ‘Listen, have you eaten anything all day?’ I said.

    He shook his head. I looked around. A bowl of fruit and some chocolates sat next to my bed. He took a piece of dark chocolate when I offered it.

    ‘So what do you want from me?’ I said.

    ‘I want you to read these journals, whatever is readable...because I can’t.’

    I looked at him, surprised.

    ‘You can’t read? As in, you can’t read in general? Or you can’t read these?’

    ‘These.’

    ‘Why not?’ I said, reaching for a chocolate.

    ‘Because Riya’s dead.’

    My hand froze in mid-air. You cannot pick up a chocolate when someone has just mentioned a death.

    ‘Did you just say the girl who wrote these journals is dead?’

    He nodded. I took a few deep breaths and wondered what to say next.

    ‘Why are they in such a terrible shape?’ I said after a pause.

    ‘They are old. Her ex-landlord found them after years.’

    ‘Sorry, Mr Whats-your-name. Can I order some food first?’ I picked up the phone in the room and ordered two club sandwiches from the limited midnight menu.

    ‘I’m Madhav. Madhav Jha. I live in Dumraon, eighty kilometres from here.’

    ‘What do you do?’

    ‘I run a school there.’

    ‘Oh, that’s...’ I paused, searching for the right word.

    ‘…noble? Not really. It’s my mother’s school.’

    ‘I was going to say that’s unusual. You speak English. Not typical of someone who runs a school in the back of beyond.’

    ‘My English is still bad. I have a Bihari accent,’ he said without a trace of self-consciousness.

    ‘French people have a French accent when they speak English.’
    ‘My English wasn’t even English until…’ he trailed off and fell silent. I saw him swallow to keep his composure.

    ‘Until?’

    He absently caressed the notebooks on the desk.

    ‘Nothing. Actually, I went to St. Stephen’s.’

    ‘In Delhi?’

    ‘Yes. English types call it Steven’s.’

    I smiled. ‘And you are not one of the English types?’

    ‘Not at all.’

    The doorbell startled us. The waiter shifted the journals to keep the sandwich tray on the table. A few sheets of the journal fell to the floor.

    ‘Careful!’ Madhav shouted as if the waiter had broken an antique crystal.

    The waiter apologized and scooted out of the room.

    I offered him a tomato and cheese sandwich. He ignored me and rearranged the loose sheets of paper.

    ‘Are you okay? Please eat this.’

    He nodded, his eyes still on the pages of the journal. I decided to eat since my imposed guest didn’t seem to care about my hospitality.

    ‘These journals obviously mean a lot to you. But why have you brought them here?’
    ‘For you to read. Maybe they will be useful to you.’

    ‘How will they be useful to me?’ I said, my voice firmer with the food inside me. A part of me wanted him out of my room as soon as possible.

    ‘She used to like your books. We used to read them together,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘For me to learn English.’

    ‘Madhav,’ I said, as calmly as possible. ‘This seems like a sensitive matter. I don’t want to get involved. Okay?’

    His gaze remained directed at the floor. ‘I don’t want the journals either,’ he said after a while.

    ‘That is for you to decide.’

    ‘It’s too painful for me,’ he said.

    ‘I can imagine.’

    He stood up, presumably to leave. He had not touched his sandwich—which was okay, because I could eat it after he left.

    ‘Thank you for your time. Sorry to disturb you.’

    ‘It’s okay,’ I said.

    He scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper and kept it on the table. ‘If you are ever in Dumraon and need anything, let me know. It’s unlikely you will ever come, but still.’ He stood up, instantly dwarfing me, and walked to the door.

    ‘Madhav,’ I called out after him. ‘You forgot the journals. Please take them with you.’

    ‘I told you I don’t need them.’

    ‘So why are you leaving them here?’

    ‘Because I can’t throw them. You can.’ Before I could answer, he stepped out, shut the door and left. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened.

    I picked up the journals and ran out of the room, but the sole working lift had just gone down. I couldn’t have taken the stairs and caught him in time; after a long day, I didn’t have the energy to do that either.

    I came back to my room, irritated by his audacity. Dumping the notebooks and the slip with his phone number in the dustbin, I sat on the bed, a little unsettled.

    I can’t let someone I just met get the better of me, I thought, shaking my head. I switched off the lights and lay down in bed. I had to catch an early morning flight to Mumbai the next day and had a four-hour window of sleep. I couldn’t wait to reach home.

    However, I couldn’t stop thinking about my encounter with the mysterious Madhav. Who was this guy? Dumraon, Stephen’s and Delhi in my head. Questions popped up: What the hell is a half-girlfriend? Who was this guy? And why do I have a dead girl’s journals in my room?
    Eyes wide open, I lay in bed, staring at the little flashing red light from the smoke detector on the ceiling.

    The journals bothered me. Sure, they lay in the dustbin. However, something about those torn pages, the dead person and her half-boyfriend, or whoever he was, intrigued me. Don’t go there,’ my mind screamed down its own suggestion. The suggestion: read just one page.

    ‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said. But thirty minutes later, I switched on the lights in my room, fished out the journals from the dustbin and opened the first volume. Most pages were too damaged to read. I tried to make sense of what I could. The first page dated back nine years, to 1st November 2002.

    Riya had written about her fifteenth birthday in Delhi. ‘One more page,’ I told myself. I flipped through the sheets as I tried to find another readable page. I read one more section, and then another. Three hours later, I had read whatever could be read in the entire set.

    The room phone rang at 5 a.m., startling me.

    ‘Your wake-up call, sir,’ the hotel operator said.
    ‘I am awake, thank you,’ I said, as I’d never slept at all. I called Jet Airways.
    ‘I’d like to cancel a ticket on the Patna-Mumbai flight this morning.’
    Pulling out the slip of paper with Madhav’s number from the dustbin, I texted him: ‘We need to talk. Important.’

    At 6.30 a.m., the tall, lanky man was in my room once more.

    ‘Make tea for both of us. The kettle is above the minibar.’

    He followed my instructions. The early morning sun highlighted his sharp features. He handed me a cup of tea and took a seat diagonally opposite me on the double-bed.

    ‘Should I speak first, or will you?’ I said.

    ‘About?’

    ‘Riya.’

    He sighed.

    ‘Do you think you knew her well?’

    ‘Yes,’ he said.

    ‘You feel comfortable talking about her to me?’

    He thought for a few seconds and nodded.

    ‘So tell me everything. Tell me the story of Madhav and Riya.’

    ‘A story that fate left incomplete,’ he said.

    ‘Fate can be strange indeed.’

    ‘Where do I start? When we first met?’

    ‘Always a good place,’ I said.

    Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
  • Saandeep Sreerambatla
    Saandeep Sreerambatla
    So it is love story , which has friendship in it, and it has death.

    Oh my god. cant wait till october. Chetan Bhagat how much I hate you...

    Err... I mean just your stories not you.
  • Dhananjay Harkare
    Dhananjay Harkare
    "Five"
    "One"
    "Three"
    "Two"
    "2020"

    Done with integers and its time to be a bestseller with fractions!! 😘😯

    "Half"
  • Abhijeet Chaturvedi
    Abhijeet Chaturvedi
    Looking forward to Read d book.. I m Sure it must be a spicy, rom-com novel..
    I Like Chetan's Work..
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    The common moral of all the chetan bhagat's stories: "where there is love and romance, there is pain, sorrow , misfortune and sometimes death too"
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    #-Link-Snipped-#

    Dude you could have thought of something smaller. check out my version:

    "once a bihari boy fell in love with a rich metropolitan city girl. they loved, they wooed, and they did all kinds of nonsense, which follows after.

    one day the girl got hit by a fast moving train, and with that ends the life of the girl as well as the story."
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    Here is pattern of all Chetan Bhagat's novel/books..
    • One guys living his life with issues you can relate with you
    • After few pages entry of girl
    • 1-2 intimate scenes
    • Issues in relationship
    • Few laughs in between
    • Story proceed and finally some conclusion.
    Correct me if I wrong here.☕
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# #-Link-Snipped-# You guys are hilarious! 😁
    I saw IBNLive reporting the news of the book release with the title -
    "Half Girlfriend - Is it the result of What Young India Wants?"

    😛

    By the way, has anyone read that book? It is a compilation of his speeches and essays on various topics ranging from Indian society, Indian politics and young Indians. 😨
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    Ankita Katdare
    By the way, has anyone read that book? It is a compilation of his speeches and essays on various topics ranging from Indian society, Indian politics and young Indians. 😨
    😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    Ankita Katdare
    By the way, has anyone read that book? It is a compilation of his speeches and essays on various topics ranging from Indian society, Indian politics and young Indians. 😨
    What !! I have to cancel prebooking on Flipkart. 😁
  • Divyaprakash KC
    Divyaprakash KC
    zaveri
    The common moral of all the chetan bhagat's stories: "where there is love and romance, there is pain, sorrow , misfortune and sometimes death too"
    And wherever these exist, there is a lot of money to make.
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    See this email, isn't it funny?

    Screenshot_2014-08-07-16-40-09_1
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    Harshad Italiya
    See this email, isn't it funny?
    Screenshot_2014-08-07-16-40-09_1
    They will help you only if English...if Gujrati Half Girlfriend, even Flipkart will not help you 😁😁
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    Anoop Kumar
    They will help you only if English...if Gujrati Half Girlfriend, even Flipkart will not help you 😁😁
    😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    Anoop Kumar
    They will help you only if English...if Gujrati Half Girlfriend, even Flipkart will not help you 😁😁
    But I am OK with English ! 😍
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    It's a wonder that so few engineers around here support Chetan Bhagat and his work. 😁 His books always have some kind of engineering student reference. Even if I haven't finished reading any of his books, I had a feeling that there will be many fans amongst CEans.

    At first, I was quite surprised to meet some people who had started reading novels with Chetan Bhagat's books. Later I read a report that said, Bhagat's books propelled the youth of nation to get a liking to book reading, which was becoming a lost hobby in the era of TV, smartphones and tablets.

    All I got to say to that is - If you are reading a English novel for the first in your life, start with something that has plain but pure English. Getting stranded in the Hinglish island can do more harm.
  • Divyaprakash KC
    Divyaprakash KC
    Ankita Katdare
    ...Later I read a report that said, Bhagat's books propelled the youth of nation to get a liking to book reading, which was becoming a lost hobby in the era of TV, smartphones and tablets.
    I am not sure about that. I have a friend circle who read using our smartphones and tabs. Since the concept of eBooks is not caught up with most of the Indian authors, In my opinion one of the ways for them to expand their fan-base is to make their products available in electronic format.


    Ankita Katdare
    All I got to say to that is - If you are reading a English novel for the first in your life, start with something that has plain but pure English. Getting stranded in the Hinglish island can do more harm.
    This, I completely agree.
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    Ankita Katdare
    It's a wonder that so few engineers around here support Chetan Bhagat and his work. 😁 His books always have some kind of engineering student reference. Even if I haven't finished reading any of his books, I had a feeling that there will be many fans amongst CEans.
    Maybe the scenario is like this here in CE. But in my college it was quite different. chetan bhagat sold like crazy amongst my class mates.

    I don't know what the hell that sucker concocted in his books, but it was magical, because even the book-haters would be found with their noses buried in a chetan bhagat novel.

    I was one of the very few chetan bhagat haters, back then.
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    I wrote this piece "#-Link-Snipped-#" long time ago ( in 2009) and almost all of his book confirm to my 'guide'. Curious to see how it holds up in the coming book 😉.

    So far the following points hold true:-

    Young and Modern Protagonists : Correct
    'F-Word' -> Is likely to be in the book a zillion times. So 'Correct'
    Plot: Nothing spectacular, like bollywood movies -> TOTALLY CORRECT
    Add A Twist At The End -> Is likely to be there. Otherwise, what's the point of the book?

    Who do you think will star in the movie based on this book?
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    Kaustubh Katdare
    I wrote this piece "#-Link-Snipped-#" long time ago ( in 2009) and almost all of his book confirm to my 'guide'. Curious to see how it holds up in the coming book 😉.

    So far the following points hold true:-

    Young and Modern Protagonists : Correct
    'F-Word' -> Is likely to be in the book a zillion times. So 'Correct'
    Plot: Nothing spectacular, like bollywood movies -> TOTALLY CORRECT
    Add A Twist At The End -> Is likely to be there. Otherwise, what's the point of the book?

    Who do you think will star in the movie based on this book?
    If only i could give a 10000 likes to this !

    and somebody here said that chetan bhagat is a humble guy. well he certainly does not deserve to boast about anything, especially when it comes to making humbug.
  • Abhishek Rawal
    Abhishek Rawal
    Why do people read such books ? 2-3 years ago I read Da Vinci code after that a friend suggested me Chetan Bhagat's book 2 states, so I read 2-3 chapters & I was like "F this shit!" I mean, who cares about Chetan Bhagat's life, how he married his gf, how many affairs he had & all that ?

    BTW, transition to Da Vinci to 2 States was very bad move!! [HASHTAG]#facepalm[/HASHTAG]
  • Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Sarathkumar Chandrasekaran
    Priced at Rs149/-
    Is it worth to give it a try:#-Link-Snipped-#
  • Divyaprakash KC
    Divyaprakash KC
    Abhishek Rawal
    Why do people read such books ? 2-3 years ago I read Da Vinci code after that a friend suggested me Chetan Bhagat's book 2 states, so I read 2-3 chapters & I was like "F this shit!" I mean, who cares about Chetan Bhagat's life, how he married his gf, how many affairs he had & all that ?

    BTW, transition to Da Vinci to 2 States was very bad move!! [HASHTAG]#facepalm[/HASHTAG]
    Da Vinci Code was indeed my introduction to English fiction area. For that matter a couple of friends too.

    I would recommend Anita Nair for easy reading, among Indian writers. Other favourites of mine are Mukul Deva and Amish Tripathi.
  • avii
    avii
    zaveri
    #-Link-Snipped-#

    Dude you could have thought of something smaller. check out my version:

    "once a bihari boy fell in love with a rich metropolitan city girl. they loved, they wooed, and they did all kinds of nonsense, which follows after.

    one day the girl got hit by a fast moving train, and with that ends the life of the girl as well as the story."
    you forgot about they having sex. without that, CB novel is incomplete.
  • avii
    avii
    zaveri
    and somebody here said that chetan bhagat is a humble guy. well he certainly does not deserve to boast about anything, especially when it comes to making humbug.
    Have met him in real life. Only thing I can tell is he doesn't know how to take criticism well.
  • DADISETTY GOVIND
    DADISETTY GOVIND
    can any 1 post inspiring words in that book.
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    DADISETTY LAXMI GOVIND
    can any 1 post inspiring words in that book.
    Chetan Bhagat novel and inspiring 😨
    Half Girlfriend == Friendzoned 😘
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    DADISETTY LAXMI GOVIND
    can any 1 post inspiring words in that book.
    " Published by Rupa & Co." ☕😁
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    So, one month to go for the book's October release. Any new updates, teasers around here?
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    😁😁
    DADISETTY LAXMI GOVIND
    can any 1 post inspiring words in that book.
    from what i know you can only post stuff only on CE forums or on blogs, and not in a chetan bhagat product or any other book.😁😁😁😁
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Looks like the launch is nearing. October is only 2 weeks away. Who here is excited? 👀
  • zaveri
    zaveri
    Ankita Katdare
    Looks like the launch is nearing. October is only 2 weeks away. Who here is excited? 👀
    not me atleast
  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    zaveri
    not me atleast
    But Chetan is! For Sure!
  • Shashank Moghe
    Shashank Moghe
    Sorry, but Chetan Bhagat is a movie scriptwriter, and not a "literary" artist. His language is mediocre, his stories repetitive and his work is totally designed to target the hormonally vulnerable teenage audience (mushy-mushy unrealistic love stories). I had the terrible luck of reading "One night at the call center", after I made a bad judgment call based on "Five Point Someone". I cried (out of despair) when reading the book. Self pity followed.

    Most people tend to judge his literary acumen by the money the movies (based on his work) make. Let us not judge a book by its movie.
  • Shashank Moghe
    Shashank Moghe
    Harshad Italiya
    Let me start 😛

    Prologue
    ------------

    ‘They are your journals, you read them,’ I said to him.

    He shook his head.

    ‘Listen, I don’t have the time or patience for this,’ I said, getting irritated. Being a writer on a book tour doesn’t allow for much sleep—I had not slept more than four hours a night for a week. I checked my watch. ‘It’s midnight. I gave you my view. It’s time for me to sleep now.’

    ‘I want you to read them,’ he said.

    We were in my room at the Chanakya Hotel, Patna. This morning, he had tried to stop me on my way out. Then he had waited for me all day; I had returned late at night to find him sitting in the hotel lobby.

    ‘Just give me five minutes, sir,’ he had said, following me into the lift. And now here we were in my room as he pulled out three tattered notebooks from his backpack.

    The spine of the books came apart as he plonked them on the table. The yellowing pages fanned out between us. The pages had handwritten text, mostly illegible, as the ink had smudged. Many pages had holes in them, rats having snacked on them.

    An aspiring writer, I thought.

    ‘If this is a manuscript, please submit it to a publisher. However, do not send it in this state,’ I said.

    ‘I am not a writer. This is not a book.’
    ‘It’s not?’ I said, lightly touching a crumbling page. I looked up at him. Even seated, he was tall. Over six feet, he had a sunburnt, outdoor ruggedness about him. Black hair, black eyes and a particularly intense gaze. He wore a shirt two sizes too big for his lean frame. He had large hands. He reassembled the notebooks, gentle with his fingers, almost caressing the pages.
    ‘What are these books?’ I said.

    ‘I had a friend. These are her journals,’ he said.

    ‘Her journals. Ah! A girlfriend?’

    ‘Half-girlfriend.’

    ‘What?’

    He shrugged.

    ‘Listen, have you eaten anything all day?’ I said.

    He shook his head. I looked around. A bowl of fruit and some chocolates sat next to my bed. He took a piece of dark chocolate when I offered it.

    ‘So what do you want from me?’ I said.

    ‘I want you to read these journals, whatever is readable...because I can’t.’

    I looked at him, surprised.

    ‘You can’t read? As in, you can’t read in general? Or you can’t read these?’

    ‘These.’

    ‘Why not?’ I said, reaching for a chocolate.

    ‘Because Riya’s dead.’

    My hand froze in mid-air. You cannot pick up a chocolate when someone has just mentioned a death.

    ‘Did you just say the girl who wrote these journals is dead?’

    He nodded. I took a few deep breaths and wondered what to say next.

    ‘Why are they in such a terrible shape?’ I said after a pause.

    ‘They are old. Her ex-landlord found them after years.’

    ‘Sorry, Mr Whats-your-name. Can I order some food first?’ I picked up the phone in the room and ordered two club sandwiches from the limited midnight menu.

    ‘I’m Madhav. Madhav Jha. I live in Dumraon, eighty kilometres from here.’

    ‘What do you do?’

    ‘I run a school there.’

    ‘Oh, that’s...’ I paused, searching for the right word.

    ‘…noble? Not really. It’s my mother’s school.’

    ‘I was going to say that’s unusual. You speak English. Not typical of someone who runs a school in the back of beyond.’

    ‘My English is still bad. I have a Bihari accent,’ he said without a trace of self-consciousness.

    ‘French people have a French accent when they speak English.’
    ‘My English wasn’t even English until…’ he trailed off and fell silent. I saw him swallow to keep his composure.

    ‘Until?’

    He absently caressed the notebooks on the desk.

    ‘Nothing. Actually, I went to St. Stephen’s.’

    ‘In Delhi?’

    ‘Yes. English types call it Steven’s.’

    I smiled. ‘And you are not one of the English types?’

    ‘Not at all.’

    The doorbell startled us. The waiter shifted the journals to keep the sandwich tray on the table. A few sheets of the journal fell to the floor.

    ‘Careful!’ Madhav shouted as if the waiter had broken an antique crystal.

    The waiter apologized and scooted out of the room.

    I offered him a tomato and cheese sandwich. He ignored me and rearranged the loose sheets of paper.

    ‘Are you okay? Please eat this.’

    He nodded, his eyes still on the pages of the journal. I decided to eat since my imposed guest didn’t seem to care about my hospitality.

    ‘These journals obviously mean a lot to you. But why have you brought them here?’
    ‘For you to read. Maybe they will be useful to you.’

    ‘How will they be useful to me?’ I said, my voice firmer with the food inside me. A part of me wanted him out of my room as soon as possible.

    ‘She used to like your books. We used to read them together,’ he said in a soft voice. ‘For me to learn English.’

    ‘Madhav,’ I said, as calmly as possible. ‘This seems like a sensitive matter. I don’t want to get involved. Okay?’

    His gaze remained directed at the floor. ‘I don’t want the journals either,’ he said after a while.

    ‘That is for you to decide.’

    ‘It’s too painful for me,’ he said.

    ‘I can imagine.’

    He stood up, presumably to leave. He had not touched his sandwich—which was okay, because I could eat it after he left.

    ‘Thank you for your time. Sorry to disturb you.’

    ‘It’s okay,’ I said.

    He scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper and kept it on the table. ‘If you are ever in Dumraon and need anything, let me know. It’s unlikely you will ever come, but still.’ He stood up, instantly dwarfing me, and walked to the door.

    ‘Madhav,’ I called out after him. ‘You forgot the journals. Please take them with you.’

    ‘I told you I don’t need them.’

    ‘So why are you leaving them here?’

    ‘Because I can’t throw them. You can.’ Before I could answer, he stepped out, shut the door and left. It took me a few seconds to realize what had happened.

    I picked up the journals and ran out of the room, but the sole working lift had just gone down. I couldn’t have taken the stairs and caught him in time; after a long day, I didn’t have the energy to do that either.

    I came back to my room, irritated by his audacity. Dumping the notebooks and the slip with his phone number in the dustbin, I sat on the bed, a little unsettled.

    I can’t let someone I just met get the better of me, I thought, shaking my head. I switched off the lights and lay down in bed. I had to catch an early morning flight to Mumbai the next day and had a four-hour window of sleep. I couldn’t wait to reach home.

    However, I couldn’t stop thinking about my encounter with the mysterious Madhav. Who was this guy? Dumraon, Stephen’s and Delhi in my head. Questions popped up: What the hell is a half-girlfriend? Who was this guy? And why do I have a dead girl’s journals in my room?
    Eyes wide open, I lay in bed, staring at the little flashing red light from the smoke detector on the ceiling.

    The journals bothered me. Sure, they lay in the dustbin. However, something about those torn pages, the dead person and her half-boyfriend, or whoever he was, intrigued me. Don’t go there,’ my mind screamed down its own suggestion. The suggestion: read just one page.

    ‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said. But thirty minutes later, I switched on the lights in my room, fished out the journals from the dustbin and opened the first volume. Most pages were too damaged to read. I tried to make sense of what I could. The first page dated back nine years, to 1st November 2002.

    Riya had written about her fifteenth birthday in Delhi. ‘One more page,’ I told myself. I flipped through the sheets as I tried to find another readable page. I read one more section, and then another. Three hours later, I had read whatever could be read in the entire set.

    The room phone rang at 5 a.m., startling me.

    ‘Your wake-up call, sir,’ the hotel operator said.
    ‘I am awake, thank you,’ I said, as I’d never slept at all. I called Jet Airways.
    ‘I’d like to cancel a ticket on the Patna-Mumbai flight this morning.’
    Pulling out the slip of paper with Madhav’s number from the dustbin, I texted him: ‘We need to talk. Important.’

    At 6.30 a.m., the tall, lanky man was in my room once more.

    ‘Make tea for both of us. The kettle is above the minibar.’

    He followed my instructions. The early morning sun highlighted his sharp features. He handed me a cup of tea and took a seat diagonally opposite me on the double-bed.

    ‘Should I speak first, or will you?’ I said.

    ‘About?’

    ‘Riya.’

    He sighed.

    ‘Do you think you knew her well?’

    ‘Yes,’ he said.

    ‘You feel comfortable talking about her to me?’

    He thought for a few seconds and nodded.

    ‘So tell me everything. Tell me the story of Madhav and Riya.’

    ‘A story that fate left incomplete,’ he said.

    ‘Fate can be strange indeed.’

    ‘Where do I start? When we first met?’

    ‘Always a good place,’ I said.

    Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
    I can imagine how CB must have felt when writing this piece.

    "Oh yes, I must have a love-lost hero in my book. Teenage girls love losers. But how would that attract the guys to read it? Yes, let us put in a girl, who, is not the guy's girlfriend (Aha, suspense!). Let me coin a new term, which can make its way in the teenage social circles. Half-Girlfriend. Yeahh.. Who cares if I resolve this in the end with some stupid explanation. But this needs to be a sad love story (like all my previous works, how original am I!) that of course didn't end well for the girl (now I have made way for teenage girl tears). Let me kill the girl. Right away, on the first page (Oh how intelligent I am, I guess that is my IIT brain [which later worked at an investment bank] at work). After this, I will throw in a mushy-mushy love story in between (may be I can copy-paste a few chapters from "five point someone" or "One Night..", just Ctrl+F the character names and "replace all" with a new totally new names.) That brings me to my biggest challenge I have faced so far- what names should I use for the lead characters? Open Google: Search "most used male child name": Viola! Madhav it is. What should be the name of the girl lead? It has to sound like every teenage boys fantasy: Riya. Yes (slurping), that was my imaginary girlfriend's name too (now I can claim this is based on my life! I am a literary genius!).

    Madhav must be an IITan, after all, fall in love, be total nymphomaniac and be a loser is what an IITan is all good for (I was one, I remember [evil laugh]). Hmm..what next? Why cant I think any more?? Hmm.. Is this what they call the "writer's block"? Must be. After all, with so much top class literary ingenious idea generation, my brain, no matter how sharp and original, must rest.."
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# That was more hilarious than all the comedy videos that are getting lakhs of views on YouTube. 😁😁

    Good job. ☕ You should start penning down a novel. 😀
  • Shashank Moghe
    Shashank Moghe
    Ankita Katdare
    You should start penning down a novel
    If Chetan Bhagat does not stop, I must begin 😁
  • Neda Hashmi
    Neda Hashmi
    For me, Chetan Bhagat's Novel is just okay types. but I really liked 2 States.
  • Harshad Italiya
    Harshad Italiya
    [​IMG]


    FYI:- #-Link-Snipped-#
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    #-Link-Snipped-# That sure is a magnanimous move. The guy's on a roll.

    I guess the book is released and Flipkart guys are already on their way to delivering the book to thousands of pre-orders by Friday and Saturday.

    I know there's hardly a single fan in this thread, but still - Could we have some short book reviews here? Anything you hear from your friends is good enough.
  • Anoop Kumar
    Anoop Kumar
    Book is already getting delivered. Yesterday I saw a fellow passenger with this book while travelling Hyderabad-Bangalore, but it seems she didn't read much so I didn't ask☕.
    Anyway here is Quora discussion with spoilers , someone compared it with Dhoom3
    #-Link-Snipped-#
  • Ankita Katdare
    Ankita Katdare
    Just posting a late update here: Someone in this thread had posted that Chetan writes his books as movie scripts. He essentially writes in a style that can be easily envisioned or adapted as a movie. The book Half Girlfriend's official wikipedia page says that "A Bollywood film adaptation is planned."

    In the last segment, it has been written that - a Bollywood film adaptation will be directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Ekta Kapoor and Bhagat. It will star Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor. It is the first film Bhagat has produced.

You are reading an archived discussion.

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