The first time Judy Balan decided to parody a Chetan Bhagat book, things went more or less according to plan, and “Two Fates: The Story of My Divorce”, did well enough to please its author. Even so, Judy decided that there would be no more Bhagat parodies in her future, and so pretty much sealed her own fate and ensured a second book. Rather than fight destiny, she decided to embrace the opportunity when it arrived, and the result is the newly published “Half Boyfriend” (Bloomsbury), co-authored with her friend and former colleague, Kishore Manohar.
The first impulse that got Judy writing “Two Fates” still holds true. “The idea that people never have a neutral response to Chetan Bhagat; that they love him or hate him, made him a very interesting subject for a parody in my head. The fact that I was divorced and his latest novel was called ‘Two States: The Story of My Marriage’ was a happy coincidence.” Despite the book’s popularity, what didn’t please Judy too much were the labels “Two Fates” seemed to be gathering. “A lot of people had called it fan fiction, or a sequel to ‘Two States’, which was mildly insulting.”
And then there was another problem Judy had to contend with. “In ‘Two Fates’, I had sort of defined the parody for myself. I didn’t want to write the inverse of the original, which is what a lot of parodies do but I didn’t see the point in that. The joke runs thin after a few chapters. So I had actually parodied Bhagat’s style of writing apart from the main plot elements, which I thought was clever, but because it was my first book, people mistook it for my style.”
So when, on their way to the Chandigarh Literature Festival, Editor Himanjali Sankar of Bloomsbury India floated the idea of another Chetan Bhagat parody, Judy accepted, but also made a quick mental checklist. “This time, there should be no doubt that it’s a parody. The tone has to clarify that from the opening line.” She was also apprehensive about going through the process alone. “The most challenging part about having to write a Bhagat parody is, of course, having to read the original. So I thought that this time, I’d share the joy with somebody.”
That she immediately turned to Kishore Manohar was no surprise. “Kishore and I used to work together. We sound a lot like each other (when we’re writing at least) and we find most of the same things funny. But even if that weren’t true, we both come from an advertising background and we’re used to donning different hats every day. We knew we wanted a mad plotline bordering on the absurd for this book.” For Kishore, who had always wanted to write a book, accepting Judy’s offer became the best way to start his career as an author. “I tell people who are hesitating to find a friend and work together”, he says.
Both Judy and Kishore stuck to Judy’s original resolve, and there is no doubt about what “Half Boyfriend” is — a very clear parody of Bhagat’s last book, “Half Girlfriend”. If the name doesn’t give it away, which it does, the content will. Funny, at places almost harshly so, the book rips into every stereotype, plot device and formula in Bhagat’s book. It changes names, but only a little, so the original Madhav and Riya become Manav and Rhea. If Bhagat makes an appearance in his prologue, so does the unfortunately named “D-Bag” in Judy and Kishore’s version. True to her resolve, this time, Judy was careful to parody “plot elements, and not so much the style.” “For our part we’ve told people you don’t need to read ‘Half Girlfriend’ to get this. If you are familiar with Bhagat’s writing, you will get the jokes. Anything can happen in a Bhagat book – that’s the premise. There are random coincidences that just pop up in his plot and we’ve done the same to ours. There is Bill Clinton in ‘Half Girlfriend’, so we brought Obama into ours.”
At the same time, the authors have tried to ensure that “Half Boyfriend” parodies more than just ‘Half Girlfriend’ or Bhagat. “As you’ll see from the dedication ‘For every woman who has tried to say ‘No’, it’s a takedown of Indian pop culture where there’s a thin line between persistence and stalking and this is jarringly evident in Bhagat’s writing – especially ‘Half Girlfriend’ where our hero basically stalks his love interest all the way to another country,” says Judy.
Kishore adds that ‘Half Boyfriend’ also parodies larger social and stereotypes in the country. For Judy, one of the flaws of Bhagat’s books is in the way they perpetuate these very stereotypes. “I do think that someone who has so much influence should be a little more careful about what he says. If not, it’s cool, we’ll have more comedy and the world needs more comedy.”
It is this love for all things funny that drives Judy and Kishore. “I am very invested in a career in comedy. I want to explore as many sub genres of comedy as I possibly”, says Judy. Kishore adds that the idea of parodies itself is important. “I think parody is a reflection of your personality. Satire takes the edge off life. I personally feel people should be able to laugh at themselves. Anything that is serious is worth parodying.” Of course, both Judy and Kishore are navigating a fairly new territory here, since the Indian parody novel has not yet taken off. While the genre boasts a rich crop abroad, — “Fifty Shames of Earl Grey” by Andrew Shaffer, “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Seth Grahame-Smith, “A Game of Groans: A Sonnet of Slush and Soot” by George R. R. Washington, “Bored of the Rings” by The Harvard Lampoon, to name just a few— back home it remains largely untouched, though Judy’s books are a definite beginning.
What is it like, then, to take on a giant like Bhagat? To begin with, it is a smart marketing move, for both the author and the publisher. “Like I said, Bhagat is the perfect subject for a parody. It gets the attention of fans and haters alike,” says Judy, adding that she’s been approached by other publishers to write Bhagat parodies too. Perhaps, if you are a publisher who doesn’t have Bhagat on his list, this is the next best thing.
So far, neither book has got responses from Bhagat himself, though Kishore says that he’s sure the author will take the parodies in the right spirit. “It is almost flattery,” he says. Meanwhile, Judy thinks that the absence of comments from Bhagat might be a deliberate move. “Perhaps it’s because he knows anything he says – good or bad – will only help sell another 10k copies.” As for incurring the wrath of Bhagat’s countless fans, Judy welcomes it. “Like Amy Poehler says, ‘Sometimes, I worry that not enough people hate me.’”
