11.06 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Chetan Bhagat gives Salman the 'Kick'; moves on to 'Half Girlfriend'

Published
By Bindu Rai

Even as the Salman Khan-Sajid Nadiadwala tag team ‘Kick’ up its heels en route to the Bollywood 200-crore film club, screenplay writer Chetan Bhagat has already moved on to his first love.

The novelist has unveiled his latest fodder to whet the appetite of middle-class India with ‘Half Girlfriend’, with the book’s first look released by e-commerce store Flipkart on Tuesday morning, with the site also announcing it is taking pre-orders of the book that releases in October.

Bhagat himself shared the news on Twitter, sharing a teaser to his new book on his website, which consequently crashed within 10 minutes of the announcement, prompting the author to tweet: “My site has crashed. Will be up soon. Meanwhile you can watch the ‘Half Girlfriend’ teaser directly on YouTube.”

Speaking to Emirates 24|7 about his upcoming book earlier, Bhagat gave us a preview of what to expect, saying: “The book is a story about rural boy and an urban girl.

“They call me Indian writer but I have never touched on rural India; I wanted to touch it in a modern way, not an ancient style. The book is a love story set in Bihar, Delhi and New York. My publisher and editors are very excited about it.”

The teaser to his ‘Half Girlfriend’ reads further: ‘Once upon a time, there was a Bihari boy called Madhav. He fell in love with a girl called Riya. Madhav didn’t speak English well. Riya did. Madhav wanted a relationship. Riya didn’t. Riya just wanted friendship. Madhav didn’t. Riya suggested a compromise. She agreed to be his half-girlfriend’.

Bhagat, whose writing style has been described by one critic as the pani puri of prose in a sea of caviar connoisseurs, has built an industry on touching a chord with urban India readers highlighting common issues in bestsellers including ‘One Night At A Call Centre’, ‘Five Point Someone’, ‘3 Mistakes of My Life’ amongst others.

Speaking about his writing style, Bhagat said: “I like journalism mixed with fiction. Some issues are important but they never get the prime time position, issues like the education system in India.

“It is an issue that affects the greater population in the country but there’s no breaking news here. A book allows you to bring out the issue and encourage a healthy debate.”

Fresh off the success of penning the lines for ‘Kick’, Bhagat still maintains that novel writing is his priority.

“Readers love me for that. I’ve had several offers after ‘Kick’, but I’ve said no to all,” he revealed. “I just can’t. Between family, writing my columns, ‘Kick’ and promoting my new book, I have no time. I’m older now. Not over the hill, but reaching the top. I can’t keep up.”

Will ‘Half Girlfriend’ be next in line to make it to the big screen post the success of his ‘2 States’ adaptation, Bhagat stated it was too premature to say, adding: “Having said that, I will say that writing a fresh screenplay is a lot easier than adapting a plot from a book.

“People have read the book and they have played the movie in their heads so now you are competing with their heads.”

‘Half Girlfriend’ is expected to hit stores in October.