Revolution 2020 : Book Review

Note: Read the following article only if you have read the novel, else this might spoil your appetite

After reading the book “Revolution 2020” by Chetan Bhagat, the first thought that ran across my mind was whether Chetan Bhagat has turned into a Bollywood movies’ scriptwriter from a novelist. With 3-4 of Chetan’s books already turning into reels, one of them being a huge blockbuster who wouldn’t want to enter the most sought after industry namely, Bollywood. The story of this particular novel seems to be inspired from a number of movies, e.g Guru where press(newspapers) seemed to be the most important tool to showcase truth, and many other bolly-flicks where the hero/villain, a small town guy tries to make it big in small time to exert his power over his companion. The book has parts where the reader may hear “Gopal”, the protagonist vaguely saying “aaj mere paas gaadi h, bangla h, tere pass kya h?” to Raghav, who happens to be his cold-rivalry and Raghav seems  to be replying “mere paas “Press –Newspaper Revolution 2020” hai.”(Raghav is a journalist). The filmy touch is very evident. The author is very opportunistic in my opinion; he shrewdly takes up the burning topic of “Corruption” into account which has currently gained a lot of audience already, thanks to Anna Hazare. From the very inception, to the end he showed how easy life is if you know powerful people, how white envelopes under the table works, how “contacts” & “references” helps. Money speaks, big time. He also brings up issues like the “glitches” or let me rephrase it to the “blunders” in our education system. Indirectly he shows the growing competition, and how the ratio of students applying to institutes to the petite number of good institutes is preposterous. Very interestingly, amidst a love triangle Bhagat is able to squeeze in all the above sensational issues. Not only Bhagat did his homework by learning about Varanasi, the city where it all happened but he also inputs some realistic view of Kota, the pre-iit-city, where many dreams are converted to reality and some dreams shattered. Psychologically, after reading the book it seems the whole system in India needs a change let alone corruption. Coming to the characters, Gopal ; a poor fellow, a small town guy yet very ambitious, emotional person, true lover, adventurous , jealous, seems to be one-woman man, until the end twist. Raghav is work-alcoholic, passionate, and faithful and determined who is ready to follow his dreams. Aarti, on one hand is very loving, caring and understanding but on the other hand she seems to be a muddled person who sways between her two best friends. She proves (yet again) that a woman is the reason for initiating a fight between two best friends. The story revolves around Gopal’s struggles to make it big and get his girl back and is balanced between the good and the bad. Reader’s wonderment regarding the title “Revolution 2020” is maintained almost till the mid of the book. Although the end is workable but he could have changed the end; it was a bit abrupt and seemed coerced. It didn’t make sense how Raghav stood for elections as an MLA when he gave up his job in a reputed IT company just to work for his passion, journalism. I was expecting a more interesting end. The affair between Gopal and Aarti is kept a secret and Raghav never even suspects: Doesn’t fit to reality. The book is in similar tones to all Bhagat books, the language is dialed down and non-novel-readers are comfortably able to envisage the events. Overall I would say the book isn’t a must read like his first novel but yes, if you are Chetan Bhagat’s sincere fan you can take a shot, otherwise wait for the movie. ;)

The above is purely my thinking, perspectives may differ.