2 Reasons Why Filmmakers Should Stop Making Chetan Bhagat Books Into Movies

How much can you cram into a three-hour movie?

Indian author Chetan Bhagat released his fifth book titled Revolution 2020, in 2011. I was 15 years old when this book was a popular talk in my classroom. I never had the habit of reading. Out of curiosity, I bought the book a couple of days later and began reading it. I finished it in under 2 hours — which I did not plan to. The story of the book and the way it was written were very soothing, and I flipped the pages with no halts. Romance has always been an interesting topic for me (as I was hopeless).

Though the basic outline of the story was a Love Triangle, this book was more than that — it addressed the dilemma of a poor man when he is offered money to do the wrong things, and of a guy who leaves everything to do the right things. For me, it was the details that got me reading the book again and again.

Impressed by this book, I started reading his other works — 3 Mistakes of My Life, 5 Point Someone, One Night at the Call Centre, 2 States — The Story of My Marriage (my personal favourite). All of them were completely distinct from each other, yet it was the details. I still read his books now and then.

Fun Fact: All Chetan Bhagat book titles have a number.

His books became a nationwide sensation. His writing touched the raw middle-class section of the country. They could relate to his writings. So naturally, filmmakers started approaching him. Out of the nine novels he wrote as of 2020, five of them hit the screens — out of which I liked just one. The rest of them disappointed me.

I wondered — what happened there? Why were the books such a hit and movies bombed? It’s natural for readers to picture everything while reading, and when they saw it, why was it disappointing?

Here are the 2 reasons they should never make his books into movies:

It’s Not Just a Love Story

Although all of his books have a romantic background, the filmmakers have failed to understand that — they’re not just a love story. His books address important social issues around us, and he never fails to present them more convincingly and intriguingly.

I have seen many naming his books as Kamasutra — as the characters in his books kiss and have sex! Outrageous! (If you didn’t know, sex is still a taboo in India, and yet, India is the second-most populous country in the world). And ironically, the movies never seem to miss those details. Add some make-out scenes in Indian movies, and those watching it would think of themselves as progressive.

Why do filmmakers focus more on the romantic elements of his books?

The answer is simple — Love is hardly practical in this country, so they might as well satisfy the audience by seeing them in movies. Why is love hardly practical here? We’ll leave that for another day.

Too Much For One Movie

Unless they release his movies as two or three parts, or as a web series, his movies would continue to flop. They crammed everything in his book into a three-hour movie. His movies are total nightmares for those who read the books first.

I had such high expectations when I went to see the movie 2 States, and I was dissatisfied coming out of the movie hall. I thought hard — What happened here? Why did the movie suck?

In the book, a Punjabi guy tries hard to persuade his mother and her family to marry his Tamilian girlfriend and vice versa. The book exhibits the reality of Punjabi and Tamilian lifestyles beautifully, and the harsh reality of how both North Indians and South Indians perceive each other.

The beauty is in the details. How the protagonist moves to Chennai for work, so that they can be close, how he was treated by her family, by the locals, how she was treated when she landed at Punjab with him, the outdated traditions to which his mother’s brains were chained to, how both of them convinced their future in-laws — all of them were ignored in the movie.

When the novel became a movie, the guy meets the girl, their family meets, they fight once and they’re married. The end.

It’s a challenge to adapt a book into movies. Yet, that’s never a justification to make a shitty movie. You have a well-received story. Now use your skills to make it into a good movie (at least at par with the book). If you plan on making one for namesake, which gives nightmares to the readers, let the books be the books and movies be movies.