Review: Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat – Half-Baked & Unappealing

‘Half Girlfriend’ by Chetan Bhagat is his sixth work of Fiction and just like his other books has been one of the most awaited ones. From the day it was announced, there was a frenzy of pre-ordering the book across the country. Chetan Bhagat has established himself as a story-teller who has millions of fans across the country. I am not among the million but have always praised the fact that he is one of the pioneers to have encouraged a lot of young fiction writers and also created a lot of new readers. Though most of those new breed of readers never really take upon reading better writers, I can be happy about the fact that people are reading!

So coming back to the main agenda of the post, Review of Chetan’s latest book ‘Half Girlfriend’:

As promised by Flipkart post the pre-order, the book was promptly delivered on 1^st Oct’14. I was looking forward to the delivery of the book, as there is a different kind of thrill in getting your hands over a new book specially way before most others. Looking at the number of parcels, the delivery man was carrying, one could easily make out that there are 1000s of others who are sharing the same excitement. I quickly teared open the package and there it was – Aqua green and orange colored cover with the words ‘Half Girlfriend’ in white. It had a silhouette of a girl wearing kind of red scarf with the silhouette of a boy calling out to her a little behind. The cover was simple but interesting and I started with my usual routine. Read the summary behind the book, finished the about, acknowledgement sections before I start reading the book. I follow this routine, because most of time you can learn a lot about the writer just by noticing how and who he thanks for making the book a reality. In this case Chetan thanked the usual entourage.

I have been always been one of the early readers of Chetan Bhagat books. I still remember reading ‘Five Point Someone’ through the night in my college days and then rushing to the computer lab early in the morning to drop a mail to the writer. This was somewhat out of character to do so but I had this strong urge of ensuring my words reach the man who penned a page-turner which kept me hooked. Since then it has been a ritual to get hold of every new CB book on day 1 and read it in one seating. But I have never really had the urge to mail him again because I always felt disappointed, even cheated a couple of times. Unfortunately, this time it’s no different.

One can argue that I might feel so because of high expectations and et all but it’s not really that. It is purely based on what I read and not who it’s written by that effects my reactions.

Over the years, Chetan Bhagat has kind of, as some say, become the Salman Khan of the Young Indian Fiction club. His books launch with a lot of fanfare, noise and celebration easily making him walk extremely happy to his bank. The story/plot is always a populist one, a commercial potboiler, following a standard formula with a sprinkle of one-liners here and there. Half Girlfriend is no different. It’s just that the writing has deteriorated further, the story lacks content & originality and the moments which make the masses whistle are almost non-existent.

So what is Half Girlfriend? Its Chetan 6^th book which has the same elements as his other 5:

1. A kind of a loser male lead who overcomes his short-comings and emerges as a winner in the end. Being a loser, the male character obviously will be hopeless with girls to start with.
2. A girl character (always out-of-the-league for the male lead) that can be replaced as any girl every guy would have had crush on or danced to a Bollywood number with in dreams. A girl who just makes all other females non-existent on planet earth.
3. The narrator of the story is always someone out-of-nowhere who wants to involve Chetan in his Lifestory when nothing else can save it. In this manner CB is more like Subhash Ghai in his movies. Guest appearance mandatory.
4. Sprinkling of random stereotype characters like useless friends, angry rich dad, suspicious mom, can-be-bribed guard, firangs who like poor India, etc.
5. And obviously an adrenaline rush filled Climax. Irrespective of what you feel throughout the book, the last 50 pages will always give you a high!

The book ends with the line, ‘…Don’t Quit. It will happen one day.’ And this is the message Chetan has tried to drive across the book. As most people would have guessed from the synopsis on the book cover, the story is targeted at Bihar and the stereo-typed notion that most of them cannot speak English properly. It plays around with the fantasy of a lot of boys from villages who want to be able to get hooked with a girl from the city, sophisticated and out of reach. But it gives tries to give them hope that if you try hard enough, love is possible!

Coming to story, mind-you there are Spoilers here –

Madhav Jha is a state-level basketball player who gets admitted into the prestigious St. Stephens via Sports quota although is dismal when it comes to command over the Queen’s Language. He meets Riya who also joins Stephen via Sports quota that too via Basketball. What a co-incidence. Not sure what happened to other sports. Anyway, Riya is rich and has impeccable hold over the language. But hold on, she is not just any ordinary rich girl, she hates her family and life being surrounded by money and finds an un-usual friend in Madhav. Madhav falls in love with Riya and gets dismissed when expressed. After a few stupid attempts to gain Riya’s acceptance, Madhav actually makes a horrible Bihari move and fucks their friendship beyond repair. Further attempts to fix things fail, Riya gets married and leaves college mid-way. Fast-forward to Madhav, back in his village to help his mother run a school in pathetic condition. He has a golden opportunity to receive a Grant and save the School by giving a speech in English. Something even after years at St. Stephens, he could not master although passing out in flying colours. Enter Riya, divorced, who helps Madhav achieve this feat and give winning speech along with making him fall in love again. Before Madhav can celebrate his win, Riya moves away from his life on the context of having a life-threatening disease and only few days left. Shattered Madhav who could not be Riya in her last days does nothing but waits 2.5yrs to have Chetan Bhagat come to rescue. This is followed by a twist which anyone can guess followed by kind of Hunt which seems to be another Mission Impossible. And ofcourse, our Madhav never quits and wins the race!

This is the story laid out in the 260 odd pages Chetan Bhagat has penned. Why is it called Half Girlfriend you ask? Well, because Riya said so. And that’s it. If the story seems lacking luster, pardon me but the fault is not in my narration. In fact the writing is even worse! If you are disappointed by just reading these few lines, imagine my disappointment while I was reading the book. It lacks creativity, innovativeness and even something as basic as research for content of the book.

While I am sure there would be a lot of people among you who might think I am being too critical and unfair, I urge you to read the book and prove me wrong. The book is already a hit having sold more than a million copies and only the sales will take to the best-seller list. So adding another reader is not a big deal. But yes if you do care about what you read and do not want waste your time (albeit couple of hours if you are a fast reader like me), you can give this book a miss!

If you have already have read the book, do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Message To Chetan Bhagat – If you read this post, please note that I would love to read a book penned down by you with a story that is close to your heart and not to please the masses. A story which may not become a movie in the future but will prove your metal as a writer. A story that does not follow any set formula but is honest to the core and is told in a way that keeps it true to its real self. Also that takes you away from your comfort zone. How about a murder mystery? Humble request or Sincere challenge, see it the way you want but I hope you do take it up.

Buy the Book from Flipkart