Q&A WITH CHETAN BHAGAT
With a new novel releasing next month, author Chetan Bhagat balances adoration and antipathy
Q. We saw murder drive the plot of your last book, The Girl in Room 105. Your next book is called An Arranged Murder. Are we slowly seeing Chetan Bhagat switch genres? Sort of. An Arranged Murder is still a Chetan Bhagat book. It has Indian quirks, comedy and a love story in it. It’s not a hardcore thriller, but as a writer, I am moving more towards crime. With attention spans becoming lesser, boy gets girl is less exciting than boy kills girl. Q. You once compared the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to arranged marriages. Each time you take a political stand, do you worry you’ll alienate a section of your readership? I’ve reached a point where I’ve proved myself. If I think something important needs to be said, then as a writer who is prominently read, I should say it. Ultimately, you need to be respected more than constantly liked. Q. Nepotism and elitist hierarchies are now being debated nationally, but you have been talking about these issues for longer, right? This is my crusade. As a writer, I feel I can contribute to Indian society by breaking feudal structures. Indians love to create a caste system for everything. The sad truth is that no matter how successful you are, you will never be equal to the upper Brahminical layer. It was true for Sushant [Singh Rajput]. It’s true for me. Q. You are often a target of social media hate. Do you ascribe this to your popularity? Since Sushant has died, I see it’s no longer cool to hate on self-made Indians or piss on their work. With this new book, I see I’m not getting trolled. The elite layer is quiet. The mental health issues of Sushant were linked to how he was treated in the press.