Revolution 2020 by Chetan Bhagat | Book Review

Chetan Bhagat’s novel Revolution 2020 was supposed to be a novel which should not have followed the popular template on which his usual novels race. However, it did not only disappoint but further deep-dropped the idea of a novel at the hands of Chetan Bhagat, a genuine novel I mean. Here is my review for this well-begun but a badly-finished and botched up piece of fiction by the popular novelist. Moreover, Chetan Bhagat is one of those Indian authors who know what to reveal and what to hide when it comes to marketing a book vehemently to meed the attention-seeking goals. 

Well, when you start something greater and it ends up with a failure that can be called ‘Revolution 2020’ by Chetan Bhagat. The title may attract you to read this work but you will not find what you were looking for after seeing the title. I have also let myself be misled with the words of the best-selling author that this book may be something else. It promised that it talks about revolution, ambition and corruption but ends with a typical love trilogy.

About the Book:

The book revolves around three major characters Raghava, Gopal and Aarti. They are childhood friends and want to succeed in their life. However, the deep-rooted corruption turns on the ambition of one who wants to fight against this and another joins hand with the very corruption to make it a staircase to success. But the story loses the track when it just begins to make a progress and the narrative shifted to a classic Chetan Bhagat love story. Both boys Raghava and Gopal are friends and they love the same girl Aarti. As you could have expected it to be, yes, it is a classic deception by Chetan Bhagat who can turn any tragedy into a semi-thriller or a cheap love story which does not offer anything new to the readers rather than hopes and despair and continuous rounding up of this cycle. Revolution 2020 could well be his magnum opus but then, Chetana and the fans of Chetan certainly did not plan it this way! 

Critical Appraisal:

Well, is there anything critical to appreciate or even criticise in his works? Still, I will try to do justice with the title of this section. After reading this novel, one can be pretty sure that Chetan Bhagat lives in a certain kind of hangover of IITs and IIMs. You can pick any book of him and the character is either in IIT or IIM. Moreover, in this novel, he has gone too far and presented a very derogatory remark on the students who unfortunately fail in the exams of IIT, NIT or other competitive examinations. He said, If you can not do engineering from an IIT then only one option has been left for you – becoming a watchman. So, Chetan Bhagat, there are many more students who are not engineers but they have contributed to the country. And there are even more engineers in the country who are not from IITs but they are doing BETTER than you! So, keep this semantic to yourself. 

He can not come out of his typical mindset of love story irrespective what he has chosen as the title, concept and idea everything will fall in the same basket of a love story.

Conclusion:

In the name of revolution, you will find two people chasing a girl. Perhaps, this is the Chetan Bhagat’s style of revolution. You may agree or disagree with his writings but you have to praise his marketing skills. The novel sets in a very familiar way with Indian places and Indian names. If this is Indianness in Indian English literature, better not be the exemplary case! The language is pretty easy and everyone can relate to the story. Hell with critical claims or critical acclaims, Chetan is doing what he does the best. 

Review by Amit for The Book Blog