Revolution 20 20: A little “filmy”, a little reality….an average read!!

I know I am probably very late in writing about this book; after all such is the rage of Chetan Bhagat books in India, that the minute they are released they get picked up by avid readers in the country (and some “not so frequent” readers too as Bhagat’s fiction is mostly easy to read & understand & relate to, thus making it an ideal pick for everyone), and then gets picked up by some top filmmaker to be made into a potential Box Office money spinner.

I, however, read this book recently only, during a holiday; a time when generally one wishes to read light fiction that soothes the soul!!

Amongst Bhagat’s previous books, I have only read his most popular to date, 2 States & had loved it immensely, so naturally my interest was piqued in Revolution 20 20 as well.

 

Synopsis:

Revolution 20 20 is set in the Indian city, Benaras or Varanasi in possibly early 2000s. It is the story of Gopal, a middle class regular small town boy. There is nothing spectacular about Gopal; he is average built, average to look at, average in studies, and comes from a humble background, where his father has lost all his wealth (little that it was) to his own older brother in a property dispute, and is now struggling to meet ends in a family of two that includes him & his son. Basically, the story of a regular Joe who might live next door to us or might be us!!

Gopal’s father has immensely high expectations of his son’s career, like most Indian parents, as he feels he can sacrifice the World but had to get his son to succeed in life with flying colours – the success’ parameter being, a good career prospect with fat pay packet & a position that makes his own head high in society. For this, his father sacrifices every need of his own & lives very humbly, thus creating  maddening pressure on Gopal, who is average in studies, knows his strengths & is fully aware that he cannot achieve what his father is hell bent on making him achieve in life.

In the mix is Gopal’s school time flame & friend, Aarti – the daughter of a wealthy bureaucrat of the city. Aarti is immensely beautiful, quite reckless & takes her fortunes for granted. She is gorgeous & she knows it; she has no particular career aspirations as she knows she comes from a rich background & is pretty & can be easily married off, thus like many women of her ilk, she does want to do a job, but something that is purely a “timepass” for her. She does not care about grades in class, but loves hanging out with Gopal & takes life easily. Gopal is madly in love with her & openly idolises her.

They have a 3^rd friend too, Raghav – a very handsome boy from a well to do family himself, good in studies, good in extracurricular activities, talented & one from whom expectations in career are naturally high because of his grades in school. Raghav is generally aloof of Aarti initially, and closer to Gopal, but things change…

Revolution 20 20 is about these 3 protagonists – Gopal, Aarti & Raghav and how their paths change & intertwine in pursuit of career, love & happiness.

Analysis of the book:

Life is not all about school time banter & jokes; sadly in India life gets full of pressure for a child after 8^th standard & definitely it is full of pressure for a child who comes from very humble background & whose parents want to live their own ambition through their children; they are determined to make their children either Doctors or Engineers, despite the fact that neither does the child have the aptitude to crack the excessively competitive & brain unnerving probability score tests, nor he/she might have the slightest interest or inclination in pursuing a career in the said field. This is completely ignored & the children feel even more pressured when the parents forsake their daily comforts & are ready to take back breaking loans, just to see their child an Engineer amongst a multitude of them, floating across the country, and finally settling down for jobs lesser than their qualification demands.

And, sexist it might sound, but being from a small town myself, I can say easily…this expectation is more from sons than daughters. India, in smaller towns (even in Big cities in many cases), still lives by the mentality, that if the daughter is below average in studies..it is still bearable, as she can be married off at least, the son HAS TO EXCEL, and he does NOT have a choice.

The pressure it surmounts on the children, especially the sons in a family, is maddening. I have personally been a witness to it, and let the snobs say India does not live like this, it very much does & to this date. Those who disagree have either not seen such pressures on school marks or are just being oblivious to it.

Gopal, our protagonist, especially goes through this dilemma. Being below average in studies & lacking the required aptitude for Engineering, he just keeps struggling to get better marks & trying to make his father happy & failing all the time. His other problem is his immense love for Aarti, which goes unrequited many times. He openly propositions Aarti many times for a more serious relationship, but is brushed aside by her, as she is simply not interested in anything more than friendship with Gopal.

 Raghav, on the other hand, excels in studies and being good looking & of a wealthy background, attracts Aarti’s attention much faster. It could also be that Raghav never really tries hard to win over Aarti, while Gopal might have come on a bit too strong, which veers Aarti towards Raghav.

Failing in entrance tests after tests, Gopal’s father sends him to Kota in Rajasthan, that is a city known for running the biggest “coaching classes” to study & build aptitude there for a year, and then crack the IITJEE & AIEEE, the two biggest entrance exams for Engineering aspirants, which Gopal had already not made through with a decent rank previously. All pleas of Gopal fall on deaf ears that he simply does not want to do this yet again, and that Probability ratio in such tests is so low that his chances of making it are very slim anyways. He is still “exiled” to Kota where he keeps daydreaming of Aarti.

I will leave the rest of the book for you to read & decipher as to what happens with our 3 main characters.

Review: (WARNING - Spolier Alert!!)

The book started off as very promising & nice read for me at least. Having lived in a small city & that too in UP, where such competitions are even higher, and having seen my own friends going through what Gopal was suffering from, I could relate to the character. I could also understand his desperate attempts towards Aarti. A small city kid in India has very few options of interaction with the opposite sex, and if the guy in question is average in looks & study & is from humble background, he can get very desperate & can seriously obsess over a relationship over anything else; especially when he is not getting to make a choice in career that suits his aptitude & liking. It might sound very stereotypical & appalling, but it is the truth.

However, midway, somewhere for me the book somewhat lost its realism and became increasingly filmy.

While on one hand, the parts of Gopal’s career struggle & his stint in Kota was painted extremely realistically, on the other hand a lot of pages were wasted in Gopal-Aarti relationship, which became repetitive & frustrating after a while. The desperation of Gopal to get Aarti’s little attention was too much to handle beyond a point. It can also be attributed to the fact, that as a character, Aarti was insipid, predictable, self-centred & somewhat dumb and hardly had anything to her claim but her looks & “daddy’s money”. It then seemed a bit of an anti climax when the whole book became more about her wooing & less about Gopal & Raghav as separate identities.

In fact the drama that was getting built up between Gopal & Raghav was more interesting than anything else, but got too little footage in exchange for the insipid love triangle that was getting formed. The clash of changing ideologies between two childhood friends was something this book should have ideally thrived on to drive “Revolution 20 20” as a point, rather than waste pages on a stupid love saga.

Another thing that dissatisfied me was the portrayal of small town women through Aarti & her weak characterisation. Why was this clash of ideology between Gopal & Raghav; Why not Gopal & Aarti?? How predictable & stereotypical is that?? Girls from smaller towns are driven to prove themselves when given a platform, and often come out as an individual with attributes they themselves were not aware of initially. Is finding a suitable romantic partner & settling down all our heroine could want in life? Could she not want a career of her own, an ideology of her own & tell the two boys to stop treating her like a pawn in their personal ego battle? Is that all our women are made of?? It pained me to see such a stereotypical & bland characterisation for the lead heroine after whom one hero is so desperate that he is willing to forsake everything in life & other treats her as nothing but a decorative wallflower, to give attention to when he has time on hand.

The climax of the book was so filmy & to my mind laughable as well that it made me wonder whether I was reading a book or watching a regular commercial Hindi film that picks up pace well till interval & goes down crashing post interval.

To summarise: Revolution 20 20 had a lot of promise and is a fairly good read too. A little less focus on romance & little more on changing ideologies of the three lead characters would have made this book remarkable by many degrees. The book, in itself, had its characterisation & tone in place correctly…I just wish all three lead protagonists had got proper prominence & well defined character nuances than mere cardboard characterisation.

A motion picture has recently been announced on the book (thought as much J), with Rakjumar Rao playing Gopal (could not have thought of any one better) and some PYT playing Aarti…frankly the way the character is written, nothing more is in any case required. Raghav’s casting is yet to be finalised, but the one tone even his characterisation wears in the book, he can also be played by any actor.

All in all, a one-time read for sure, if nothing but to make you understand the dilemma of students who face illogical career expectations, which has been related beautifully & aptly.