he 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. Balan decided that then that there would be no more Bhagat parodies in her future. But she embraced the opportunity when it arrived.
The result is the newly published Half Boyfriend (Bloomsbury), co-authored with her friend and former colleague, Kishore Manohar.
The impulse that got Balan 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 did not please Balan 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: “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. 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 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 Manohar, 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.
Sticking to resolve
Both Balan and Manohar 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 Balan and Manohar’s version. This time, Balan 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 Gates 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. Balan says, “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.”
Manohar says Half Boyfriend also parodies larger social and stereotypes in the country. For Balan, one of the flaws of Bhagat’s books is the way they perpetuate 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 Balan and Manohar. “I am very invested in a career in comedy. I want to explore as many sub-genres of comedy as possible,” says Balan. Manohar says 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 Balan and Manohar are navigating fairly new territory here. While parody boasts a rich crop abroad — Fifty Shamesof 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 — the Indian parody novel has not yet taken off, though Balan’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 Balan 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, though Manohar says he’s sure the author will take the parodies in the right spirit. “It is almost flattery,” he says. Meanwhile, Balan thinks 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, Balan welcomes it.
“Like Amy Poehler says, ‘Sometimes, I worry that not enough people hate me.’”
Satire takes the edge off life. People should be able to laugh at themselves. Anything that is serious is worth parodying
Kishore Manohar
Co-author
The book rips into every stereotype, plot device and formula in Chetan Bhagat’s book
