During the Launch of the book last Friday, Chetan Bhagat’ has commented that he is a 80% entertainment and 20% change writer. He sure sticks to his vision statement (if I can call it that) in this book. As an IIT/IIM Graduate, he has chosen writing as a Profession and like any successful double combo working professional is doing well in his chosen profession.
He is clear about his end customers, has done his break-even analysis well with his Publishers and is intent on meeting the Customer’s objective. His end customers are more like me, who want to read light (stuff that makes you take to reading as a hobby) and not heavy on the purse. True to his background, he has segmented his market well and is delivering to the needs of the Market.
The readers are advised to consider this as a story of fiction drawn from the personal experiences of the writer. The Story is about a Punjabi boy and a Tamil Brahmin girl tying the knot under trying circumstances and living happily ever after. The girl is a chicken eating and beer loving Tamil Brahmin coming from Mylapore, the holiest of holy places in Tamil Nadu known for their puritan tastes. Chetan has done a very good job of depicting the household of Swamimathsn’s, their tastes and lives of Tamil Brahmin in general. Being a Tam Bram my self, I enjoyed every bit of his conversations with his in laws, their take on carnatic music, and discussions at dinner table. Every bit, authentic and enjoyable stuff.
The boy’s family has a divided house, a confused father who for the most part of the story is a villain and turns a good guy towards the end giving a sudden twist to the story. The Punjabi love for money, good food, loud tastes and masti is well chronicled. Being a Punjabi himself he has done justice to his brethren.
The 20% change agent in him pitches in to convey the feeling of an India that should be undivided by religion, culture and togetherness. I wish, he does not change this percentage very often. May be he will, over a course of couple of more books, when he decides to address a different market.
The 80% entertainer in him has shifted course a bit. The objectives of his earlier writings were pure desire to write good stuff. This book to me was written with Shahrukh and Asin in mind as lead roles for a blockbuster. The scenes where Ananya convenes a meeting with twenty year olds to get the Duke clan to go with the marriage is pure filmy.
