What will Chetan Bhagat say? That, I think was on everyone’s mind when they came to listen to the popular writer with some rather unpopular views on the first day of the Bangalore Literature Festival. The topic? From Full Wives to Half Girlfriend- the Women in Chetan Bhagat’s Novels.’ He quite set the tone for his talk, with his opening comments, “It is okay if I am not the best writer; lots do not consider me the best, as far as I am a bestselling writer!”
And the things he had to say! “I like smart women, I don't know why.” “If a woman has a brain it is better.” “If she is a successful woman, for me it is a turn on.” “No woman in my story will ever be a prop... Everything in my books is driven by women.” “The only girls I’ve liked or met are girls with dreams.” “Every woman character in my book is passionate, bold, driven.” Which made one woman from the audience, say: “Hello! That is how we woman are these days, specially here down South.”
While he took several jibes at his wife’s Tam Brahm community, the Punjabi patriarch in him, patronising women, reinforcing all stereotypes of the male attitude towards women was all over his talk. But somehow either most of the audience didn’t seem to read into it, or couldn’t care less. When he paused somewhere in his conversation to say: “This is not a lit-fest type of session. Is it okay?" And the crowd answered with a resounding ‘yes’, prompting Chetan to cheekily add, “Somebody has to bring down the level so that others look good!”
Bhagat & Bollywood
Bhagat’s editor Shinie Antony teased him over a series of selfies he’d taken with actors like Aalia Bhat, asking if he’s a Bollywood groupie? “Any guy who’s studied in an engineering college will know how scarce women are. And I grew up in Rajasthan, looking at these actresses. And now I get to work with them, so I go a bit crazy”. Will he make a crossover to B’wood? “No, I don’t see myself as a Bollywood guy. I’ve enjoyed writing books more than I did writing the Kick script. A film cannot do everything a book does.” But answering an audience question, he admitted “I’m an Indian boy so the Bollywood inspiration is there. My style is filmi!”
Mardaani: Rani shows how to At BLF2014, which was Bollywood actor Rani Mukherjee’s first outing to a literature festival, there were two sides to Rani that emerged from her interactions.
One, the actor with the social conscience, working for causes, the woman egging young girls to learn to defend themselves and fight back against oppressive men, with her latest film Mardaani as a backdrop for this train of thought. Rani also shook up the audience a bit when she suddenly demonstrated how a girl should ideally react to an eve-teaser; her raised voice, the question asked, the tone, the attitude, had the audience clapping in appreciation.
The other, the newly-married Rani, spoke of the rigours of keeping home, wanting to spend time with family, and telling the audience how “marriage doesn’t change you. It is not an outfit you wear and look different. If you marry for the right reasons it makes you happier.”
Talking about the kind of movies and roles she likes doing, Rani said “I confess I love slapping and kicking, but I also like romancing and dancing. But yes, the dancing roles are getting lesser and I have to make do with mature love stories.”
While cinema is a mode of entertainment, at the same time it won’t harm us to do socially relevant cinema also, she stressed. She also spoke of how heroines today are getting to play their age, and audience too are more accepting of it. Film critic and author Bhawana Somaaya who was in conversation with Rani peppered the talk with interesting insider anecdotes and insights into Rani's life. Many young smitten men in the audience offered her congratulations, a wedding gift and one even had his blushing cheeks pinched by Rani.
Interacting later with the media, and speaking of books and literature, Rani confessed “I grew up reading Shakespeare in school and that was my dose of literature!” But she listed The Alchemist and The Fountainhead as two of her go to books, apart from cookbooks.
