As one walks into the plush Inox theatre in New Delhi’s Nehru Place, Chetan Bhagat is surprised. “We have always met at India International Centre...,” he states the obvious as a query. Exactly, it is Chetan who has made this journey from IIC to Inox. “Well, these are my two worlds. They are connected but separate at the same time. My story is getting a bigger platform, and I am happy,” says Chetan, referring to Half Girlfriend, which has made it to theatres this week.
Usually, authors have issues regarding creative control. Recently, Anuja Chauhan accepted it in a conversation with The Hindu . “I don’t have, luckily. That’s why it is my fifth adaptation,” responds Chetan. “Even if some of my experiences were not good, I didn’t give up. I choose my people carefully, now. Just because you fall in the football field once, doesn’t mean you give up the sport. ”
He says loving the material and having the skill to adapt it are two different things. “The story exists in a cloud, somewhere. That story can become a book. I am not attached to the book; I am possessive about the story. If the story is kept in its essence, and the film is honest towards the theme and the message, I am good.”
Those who have read the novel would know that it begins with Chetan in Patna. “I am not there in the film, physically,” he clarifies. “The book required that device to answer why am I writing about Bihar. I am a co-producer here, so it would have looked a bit strange, and second I would still be meeting Arjun Kapoor!”
Banking skills to the fore
Many might feel his entry into production, is about creative control. Chetan plays it down. “No, I just wanted to be more involved. I am a guy who likes to take risks. I was there all the time on the 80-day shoot spread over six cities. I did things which I never thought I will be doing like controlling costs. When we were in Delhi, I helped in getting permission to shoot inside St. Stephen’s College. When people in the team said they didn’t like the food, I changed the caterer. Of course, there was a team with me, but I brought all my banking skills to the table. For every day of the shoot, I prepared an Excel spreadsheet...how many people were hired, how much were they paid....”
It is a given, says Chetan, that there is some dilution of depth when you adapt a novel to film. How does he react when his characters take different shapes? “It feels surreal but I know it is Mohit Suri plus Chetan Bhgat. I am not like that kind of person who would sulk over changes. I am always like show me how Mohit sees my work. I have learnt to be detached. In fact, I am quite ruthless while editing my books as well. That way, I am a secure person.”
Two years back, when Madhav Jha came out of Bihar, Hindi versus English was an issue but when we have the likes of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath at the top, the conflict seems to have lost some of its bite.
“I agree that Hindi belt is more confident than ever before. However, in two years we could not have shed 200 years of colonial hangover. Yes, some Hindi speaking people have come on important political posts, but a multinational still won’t hire somebody who can’t express himself in English. In fact, the divide has come out in the open. We do have few stars, but in job market, not knowing English is still a big handicap.”
While the actors play down the divide, Chetan says it was always his intention to present Riya as India and Madhav as Bharat. “Riya, to me, is the English world, those who can think in English and speak with native English speaker kind of proficiency. And Madhav is looking for a key that opens a world that is shut out for people like him.”
Having said that Chetan says he is not dissing English. “One should learn English. My point is to discriminate against somebody because he can’t speak English, is wrong. The sense of entitlement that comes with the ability to speak a language is a problem. At a very broad level, a section of English speaking elites have controlled the opportunities for a long time and the moment they allow Hindi or Bharat on the same table, the opportunities that they have been enjoying go down.”
Class system
Chetan holds that “language perpetuates a kind of class system too.” “It has grown now because the aspiration level is a lot higher in Bharat. The technology has brought Bharat and India closer. The exposure is there but the gates of opportunities are still closed. Whatever Shraddha (Kapoor) is instagramming is being watched by her 15 million followers. It is clearly not just India, it includes Bharat. They are seeing what Shraddha is wearing, and want to flaunt it. They also want the same things but India is not letting Bharat in.”
But both need to learn from each other, isn’t it? “The aim is not that a chest beating nationalist takes over. We are in a transition phase where a large section is asking for its share in opinions and opportunities.” Politically, he says, this section has been very powerful. “The UP CM was never an English speaking person. Mayawati always spoke in Hindi but she never took pride in it. She flaunted her Dalit identity. In the present dispensation, there are Hindi speakers who are proud of it.” It seems his next novel will capture these contradictions. “I am not getting a handle on what all this means. It is a situation that is unravelling. There is something on the horizon, and I have some theories on it, but have yet to understand the phenomenon.”
He himself faces lot of flak on the social media. Recently, the news of the inclusion of his Five Point Someone in the syllabus of Delhi University sparked sharp reactions. “What Madhav faces in college, I have faced it in literary world. I identify with Madhav.” He suggests Madhav’s going to St Stephen’s College is like him trying to break into literary circle. “Many feel my works appeal to Hindi speaking guys. If you are studying literature, and you select a paper on popular fiction, would you not like to read the most popular contemporary writer in the country. It is like if you were doing a course on popular cinema, would you not watch Salman Khan movies. Not doing so, seems like a close-minded approach to me. It scares me that some people in the position of power and influence believe that literature is only what was written 200 years ago. It is only about Wuthering Heights .”
On the charge of plagiarism levelled against him by Anvita Bajpai, a Bengaluru-based writer, Chetan claims there is no merit in her case. “She has misrepresented and I have been punished without being heard,” says the writer referring to the injunction passed by a civil court in Bengaluru restraining Chetan and his publisher from selling One Indian Girl . “Plagiarism is a serious charge. In times of social media, when my followers could put screen shots of copied paragraphs on my Twitter handle, it would be foolish of me to do something like this. The court is on vacation and I am in the midst of film promotion. My legal team is looking into the matter,” sums up Chetan.
