OK. If it was not for the media pressure , pre-launch hype and the ad in TOI, I may have not picked another Chetan Bhagat novel. I did pre-order, not because I was worried that 200 Asian elephants will be sold-out but to get over it soon. Remember EAT THE FROG early in the morning – rest of the day seems fine.
OK. This is really a script of a movie condensed for a Rs 149 release to help prime the market. Unfortunately, like the Indian films there is hardly any twist in it. And true to movie culture, last 20% (50 odd pages ) or final 20 minutes of the movie are a waste.
OK. He has a huge pre-order- good for the industry. He has a movie announced – Good for him. I’ve to read 260 pages of insipid unoriginal writing – not good for me. The while plot is so ‘A for Apple’, you are way ahead of the story while reading it- really no fun. Seriously speaking, I have a strong feeling that I have read or heard parts of this story before. Now that is something serious but as I am not sure where and when- I have nothing to claim.
OK. You may say that I am no longer a romantic at my age. And you know I will negate that. But in the current era, the average male is not so dedicated, optimistic, die-hard romantic. The average girl not so dumb to come back to a boy who has the audacity to say ‘Deti hai toh dey nahi toh kat ley’. Fuck me of fuck off.
OK. I know stories are stories and may not have a link to reality. Yet, I am still trying to understand. How a very talented escapist who has taken all precaution to wipe the trail, leaves a guiding torch in form of life journal. And that is just one few of the abnormal incidence that delinks from reality.
. For me a book need to create a curiosity for me to keep reading. ‘Half Girlfriend’ fails. Through out the story there must be at least one character you can relate to. ‘Half Girlfriend’ fails. He loses out when the pressure of the script makes him add a single line to explain the relationship between Riya and her father. As if that explains everything. ‘Half Girlfriend’ fails again
OK. A good novel must ensure that the reader is able to clearly visualise the location and action, have a hazy ( if not absolute clear) familiarity with the character, so much that if he was to met them in real life, he would comfortably recognise them. Half Girlfriend succeeds in this. The way Bill Gates Foundation been incorporated and used in the storyline is very real-life type and Chetan scores on this front.
OK. I loved ‘FIVE POINT SOMEONE’ as much as the movie adaptation of it. The ‘ONE NIGHT @ CALL CENTRE’ freaked me out in a positive sense. I admired the plat and narration of ‘THREE MISTAKES OF MY LIFE’ the book more than the movie adaptation of it. ‘TWO STATES’ I somehow pushed myself to love the book and did not see the movie. Hugely hated his attempt in ‘REVOLUTION 2020’ and refused to read ‘WHAT YOUNG INDIA WANTS’. A graph that has been going downhill for long.
OK. I do not like the story line and narration of ‘Half Girlfriend’ I would not recommend you to waste your money on it. It has the Chetan Bhagat style prologue, where he meets a complete stranger who shares a story with him. This time it lacks the desired drama and practicality.
OK. The storyline. Madahav Jha- a Bihari with no english and Riya Somani a girl born to rich parents get admitted to S Stephens college under sport quote. Madav is in a hurry to get a girlfriend as he believes no one will be his girlfriend. He like Riya and Riya consideres him as a friend- just friend. Madav friends are pushing him to DO IT- as a stamp f having a girlfriend.. The whole book is about – What will happen and how the love will blossom ( we know it would ), How they will part ways ( they normally do ) and how will they come back ( they always do).
UNFORTUNATELY. Half Girlfriend- in reality a simple story of die hard romantic . It has been pre-booked and sold enough to be a best seller. People will come to movie hall just to see the difference between the book and the movie-. This will fill the first week seats and tag it as success. The spiral moves upwards. Chetan gets to write another story for a movie and we get another novel. In process of decreasing numeric value Half Girlfriend we will get ‘One –fourth real Chetan Bhagat’
HALF GIRLFRIEND. by CHETAN BHAGAT. RUPA. 260 Pages. INR 176. If you still want to read you can ORDER HERE
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