Revolution 2020; Cheta Bhagat; Rupa Publishing India, Rs. 140, pp.296
The title of the book appears only on page 196; Revolution 2020. Yet, Chetan Bhagat’s latest novel makes a compelling reading; the reasons are simple. The incidents are contemporary, the characters are contemporary, their behavior is contemporary but only the end is conventional. But, Chetan Bhagat has proved that his fluid writing skills once again in no uncertain terms.
The novel of love, corruption and ambition unfolds with three main characters as in any of his early books; two boys and a girl. The set up is Varanasi, the most holy city of India where many unholy things go on. The present day craze for engineering education and the greed of the population, the selfishness of every individual, and the corruption in India which has extended its tentacles in every sphere have been reiterated once again.
In some places, we feel that we have to be ashamed for being a citizen of such unruly, worthless nation. Raghav Kashyap, Gopal Mishra and Aarti Patwardhan were the characters taking along the story of friendship, love, deceit, defeats, success, wealth, dreams, and failures in all shades and happenings of life. But, in this story all these happen a bit too fast. A twenty four year old young man becomes the Director of a private engineering college by several turns of events; indeed, that is possible in today’s India.
Raghav is intelligent in the academic sense and a sort of idealist while Gopal is average but ambitious and Aarti is just pretty without brains. She is in fact too pretty that both the boys fall for her. One turns successful in academic pursuits that include some idealism also but the other in wealth and status. The academician turns into an investigative journo which is quite impossible in the present Indian milieu, but he is while the academically defeated becomes a dream merchant of education. The pretty girl hovers around the two quite indecisively. Who wins over her?
According to Chetan he expects a revolution by 2020; every aspect of life becoming corrupt, business centered, money oriented one could hardly believe whether such awareness could ever come. Is there anything wrong in dreaming and reading a novel which injects some positive feel in us?
Revolution..where is it? Romance..plenty! Including an elaborate seduction and bedroom scene!
‘Revolution 2020’ is a good timepass. Period.
