Hello! This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir. In the paper Contemporary English Literature, we studied Chetan Bhagat as a part of Popular Literature. This blog deals the Chetan Bhagat’s 5th Novel Revolution 2020 which was Published in 2011. This blog deals with the tile significance and social realism in Revolution 2020 (R2020) and a creative insight about How it would be better if it were narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective.
Revolution 2020
Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author, Columnist, Youtube, and motivational speaker. He was included in Time magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Bhagat completed his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1995 and completed his MBA in IIM, Ahmedabad in 1997. IIMA awarded him the "Young Alumni Achiever's Awards 2018" in the Art & Entertainment category. He got campus placement in Canada, but the company closed and he joined as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs at their Hong Kong office. He left his work and began his writing career as a full-time job in 2009 and he is also famous as a motivational speaker.
His novels and the Bollywood movies inspired by it.
- Five points Someone- 3 Idiots (Rajkumar Hirani)
- One Night at The Call Centre (2005) - Hello (Atul Agnihotri)
- The 3 Mistakes of my Life (2008) - Kai Po Che (Abhishek Kapoor)
- 2 States (2009) - Two States (Abhishek Verma)
- Revolution 2020 (2011)
- Half Girlfriend (2014)- Half Girlfriend (Mohit Suri)
- One Indian Girl (2016)
- The Girl in Room 105 (2018)
- One Arranged Murder (2020)
- 400 Days (2021)
Writing style
Chetan Bhagat’s writing style is very different from the other prominent authors and he deals with the ideas and lives of the Indian youth that's what resists him from being a highbrow writer. He uses simple language which doesn't even need a dictionary to be referred to. The audience also finds it easier to relate to his books as the context of his books is usually based on actual events from their lives. The target audience of Bhagat is youth and the characters he creates are also similar to targetted audience. His stories usually have an Indian touch to them which makes them even more interesting. With his vivid and humorous way of depicting stories, he has inspired reading habits in many young Indians.
The reason Chetan Bhagat is read a lot is his use of simple language, and a conversational, youth-friendly style and he has proved himself to be a great storyteller. His books are affordable price and the length of the narrative is like a short novella that can be completed in a single sitting. It doesn't need to think deeply or it doesn’t disturb the reader's sentiment or thought process.
Chetan Bhagat is considered a popular writer of today’s time but perhaps he might survive the exam of time and can be known as a prominent writer of the time. We have an example of Shakespeare and Wordsworth who were considered popular and criticized for their way of writing but have survived their time and are the prominent writer of their time. CLICK HERE to read an article- Chetan Bhagat: the paperback king of India by Robert McCrum
Revolution 2020 (R2020)
Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition story is concerned with a love triangle, corruption, and a journey of self-discovery. R2020 has addressed the issue of how private coaching institutions exploit aspiring engineering students and how parents put their lifetime earnings at stake for these classes so that their children can crack engineering exams and change the fortune of the family. While a handful accomplishes their dreams, others sink into disaster. The novel is based on the "rampant corruption" apparent in the Indian educational system.
Social realism in the novel
Social Realism is the realistic depiction in art of contemporary life, as a means of social or political comment. Revolution 2020: Love. Corruption. Ambition deals with the most prevailing social turmoil such as corruption in education, politics, business, economy. The whole novel revolves around the three main characters Gopal, Aarti, and Raghav all of three were school friends and IIT aspirants. Raghav’s father of engineer (educated), Aarti’s father was an Ias officer and Gopal’s father was a school teacher and farmer. All three had different family backgrounds, Raghav could crack the AIEEE/ JEE exam with a good rank and got admission to BHU-IT while Gopal cracked the exam but couldn't score well. So, he was sent to Kota the preparation for the exam. Aarti’s character keeps on oscillating between her love interest Raghav and Gopal.
Aforementioned, this novel deals with the concerns in the life of youth. Raghav got admission to BHU- IT but he wished to be a social reformer and after his education, he began a newspaper named Revolution 2020 in which he used to write the social and political realities of the societies. Gopal met MA Shuklaji when he was very young and without having finished his schooling. He then started a private college, and the entire institution is built on corruption and bribery, beginning with the purchase of land. Gopal saw everything in terms of money, and he spoke in constant monetary terms. Bhagat portrays the privatization of education through the character of Gopal and his institution. When educated people sell degrees, degrees have a higher value than knowledge and education. Gopal visits Raghav in his black Mercedes to demonstrate to him where he has come despite not having any formal education, while Raghav writes in the small garage and makes an effort to demonstrate his superiority.
Gopal (wealth) > Raghav (knowledge/ ethics)
In addition to showing the deplorable side of the private education system, Bhagat also depicts the scenarios of Kota, Rajasthan, which has developed into a coaching school hub and is still present in 2023. It also depicts the incident involving Manoj Dutta, the former PG in Gopal's room, who hanged himself. Gopal's father wanted him to become an engineer, which is the genuine tale in the lives of many children, thus he was compelled to attend school in Kota.
‘Kota now had small coaching shops
to coach you to get into the top
coaching classes, From there, you would
be coached to get into an engineering college.’
It also demonstrates Indian students' desire to take competitive exams, and online series like Kota Factory and Aspirants provide excellent illustrations of the daily struggles and pressures these students face.
As a politician, MLA Shuklaji portrays corruption in an appropriate light because he was the only one who helped Gopal find his private institution and taught him how to pay people. Raghav, a journalist, wrote an article about the Ganga Action Plan fraud that resulted in Shuklaji's imprisonment. The Ganga Action Plan is a true account of India, not a fictional scene from a book. The Ganga action plan was launched in 1986 with the goal of reducing pollution in the Ganga river. The downfall of the Ganga Action plan was that it was a wholly bureaucratic effort with top-down, end-of-the-pipe interventions—Corruption in the Ganga Action plan. GAP is a 100% state-supported scheme. In 2019, the Ganga Action Plan was re-announced, although the pollution and filth levels in the Ganga remain the same.
Another issue in the book is the erosion of moral and ethical standards. how educational institutions are transformed into corporate hubs. He has seen unethical behavior throughout the entire land purchase process, including when the building was constructed and the admittance quota was met. How pointless schooling has become?
Significance of the title 'Revolution Twenty20'
There are about 27 instances of the word 'revolution' in the book (estimate).
The Indian Revolution of 2020 was predicted in the 2011 book Revolution Twenty20. After earning his engineering degree, Raghav pursues his career as a writer in order to pursue his desire for social change. He lost his job as a result of his unrestrained journalism, at which point he started his own printing press in a small garage called ‘Revolution 2020’.
Raghav ‘believes there will be a real people's revolution in India one day.’
Revolution 2020. That's his goal. That India
must have a full-blown revolution by 2020.
Power will be with the youth. We will dismantle
the old corrupt system and put a new one in place.
The Revolution 2020 write-up was presented on a fluorescent pink A3-sized sheet with the headline "Because Enough is Enough" and the words Revolution 2020 in large, bold type. ‘We have to start a revolution, a revolution that resets our corrupt system.’ Four passionate people worked for a small journal called Revolution2020.
- The word Love is included in this Revolutionary narrative through artful title writing. The title implies that the emphasis on the theme of revolution is weighing down on the theme of love.
- The love -story has the canvas story of revolution or vice-versa.
- The theme of revolution is covered in the theme of love.
The IPL, a Twenty20 cricket league, served as the inspiration for the book's title. The first thing that springs to me when I read the title Twenty20 is IPL cricket. The author of this book utilized the term twenty20 in his title, which we interpret to refer to the cricket frenzy that year because it was published in 2011. This is a lacuna in the title's explanation that we are attempting to fill. The author has never explicitly explained anything in this area.
Do you think that an opportunity for a good novel is wasted because the story is told from Gopal's perspective? Can it be better if narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective? How would it be better if it was narrated from Raghav or Aarti's perspective?
The narration of a novel can change significantly when the narrator changes, as the perspective and voice of the narrator can have a significant impact on the way a story is told. It is subjective to determine what makes a novel "good." Different people have different tastes and preferences. But in terms of literature, good or Highbrow literature is one which raises the abstract question and deals with abstract problems; novels such as Waiting for Godot, Oedipus Rex, and Hamlet. While R2020 comes under the classification of popular culture as it lacks high seriousness and sincerity.
The whole novel is narrated from Gopal Mishra’s point of view, he is sharing his life story with Chetan Bhagat, who is present as a character in the novel. If the novel was narrated from Raghav Kashyap’s point of view it might have gotten a chance to be a better novel. How?
Raghav Kashyap belonged to an upper-class family. His father was an IITian, and an engineer at BHEL. Raghav himself cracked JEE exam and graduated from BHU- IT. but then he followed his passion of being a social reformer and became a journalist. He became a fearless journalist who went against authority/ power which lead him to lose his job and so he began his private small printing press where he tried to bring the real face of authority and real news to society. In this run of following his passion, he didn't give time to Aarti which created distance in their relationship. He also went against his family for his passion.
‘…his parents are okay with it?' 'No way!
They went ballistic when he told them, it isn't
just about the money, he isn't using his engineering
degree. They are still upset.’
‘He feels the revolution begins at home.
Society changes only when an individual
family norms are challenged.’
'Raghav’s expose has created complete chaos.
Even my family has been affected,' she said
The dialogues by Aarti that depict the challenges Raghav experienced in pursuing his passion are seen above. It demonstrates how challenging his life was at the time he decided to join a political party for social reformation after marrying Aarti.
Considering Raghav's life I believe that the concept of revolution would have been appropriately conveyed in the book if Raghav Kashyap had recounted it instead of Gopal Mishra, whose narration is overshadowed by the theme of love. Despite being an educated scholar and coming from an upper-class, conventional household, it can be challenging to follow your passion. Aarti abandons her goals to become a regular girlfriend or bride in today's environment when students like Gopal look for life's shortcuts. For young people trying to navigate the challenging questions of life, Raghav's narrative may have been motivational.
And we are all aware of the challenges posed by being a true journalist, defying the establishment, and exposing people for who they really are. Not just the journalist but also his family is in danger as a result.
Although Gopal R2020's tale teaches readers what kind of person they shouldn't be, it also makes it clearer what they should do.
I hope this blog is useful. Thanks for visiting.
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