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Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974)[1] is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter and YouTuber. He was listed in Time magazine's list of World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010.[2] Bhagat has produced many novels, with several of these works turned into movies, such as One Night @ the Call Center and Half Girlfriend.

Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat in 2011
Bhagat in 2011
BornChetan Prakash Bhagat
(1974-04-22) 22 April 1974 (age 50)
New Delhi, India
LanguageEnglish, Hindi
Alma mater
GenreRomance, realistic fiction, non-fiction, suspense, thriller
Years active2004–present
Notable worksFive Point Someone, 2 States: The Story of My Marriage, The 3 Mistakes of My Life
Spouse
Anusha Suryanarayan
​
(m. 1998)​
Children2
Website
www.chetanbhagat.com

Early life and education

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Chetan grew up in a traditional Punjabi Hindu family. His father served as a lieutenant colonel in the Indian Army, and his mother worked as a scientist in Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. He attended the Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan,[3] where he developed a passion for writing while authoring jokes for the school magazine.[4]

Bhagat graduated with a B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in 1995.[5] Bhagat would then attend the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), graduating in 1997 with a degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in marketing.[6][7] In June 2018, IIMA awarded him the "Young Alumni Achiever's Awards 2018" in the Art & Entertainment category.[8]

Career

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Banking

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After graduating in 1997, Bhagat was placed through his campus at Peregrine Investments Holdings in Canada. However, he lost this job within six months when the company closed its operations in 1998. His next job was at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker in their Hong Kong office. While working in this position, Bhagat was also focused on creating his first novel, Five Point Someone. Eventually, the publishing company, Rupa Publications, accepted his manuscript and offered to publish his work.

By 2006, he was vice-president of Strategic Investment Group, Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong.[9] In 2005, He would publish his second novel, One Night @ the Call Center. In March 2008, Bhagat moved back to India with his wife and three-year-old twin sons. He joined as a director in Deutsche Bank's distressed-assets team in Kodak House, Mumbai. The same year his third novel, The 3 Mistakes of My Life, was published and sold seven lakh (700,000) copies in three months. In 2009, Bhagat quit his banking career to become a full time author.[10]

Author

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Bhagat started writing his first novel Five Point Someone when he was working at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong in the early 2000s. In an interview, he said he wrote about 15 drafts of the novel and also sent the final manuscripts to several publishers. The manuscript was finally accepted by the publishing house Rupa Publications in Delhi and was published in 2004. The novel narrates the story of three IIT students who consider themselves to be below-average students among other students there. The story was adapted by film director Rajkumar Hirani into a film named 3 Idiots starring Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, and Kareena Kapoor.[citation needed]

After the success of his first novel, he started working on his second book One Night @ the Call Center which was published in 2005. The novel was also a success. In the first three days of its release, almost 50,000 copies were sold. It became India's fastest-selling book of its time.[citation needed] The book was also adapted into a movie named Hello, with Bhagat and Atul Agnihotri as writers.

Bhagat would start his full time career as a novelist with his third novel, The 3 Mistakes of My Life, published in 2008. This novel would see wide success, with the film Kai Po Che being based on its story.[citation needed]

Bhagat's fourth novel 2 States was published in 2009 and drew inspiration from his marriage and wife. The novel revolves around a young engineer falling in love with a South Indian girl and the tribulations of this relationship. The book was adapted into a successful movie of the same name starring Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.[11]

Bhagat's later novels Revolution 2020, Half Girlfriend and One Indian Girl also gained commercial success.

Bhagat's is still active as an author, producing The Girl in Room 105 in 2018, One Arranged Murder in 2020, and his latest novel 400 days, in 2021.

Screen presence

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Bhagat was a celebrity judge along with Marzi Pestonji and Preity Zinta on the dance reality show named "Nach Baliye" season 7 that aired on the Indian television channel Star Plus.

Bhagat was also seen in Netflix's series Decoupled, which stars R. Madhavan in the lead role. In the show, Madhavan plays the second bestselling author in India, while Bhagat plays himself as India's bestselling author and Madhavan's rival.

Screenwriting

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For Kai Po Che (2013) based on his novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life, Bhagat was one of the four screenplay writers.[12] The film was a commercial success and Bhagat, along with Pubali Chaudri, Supratik Sen and Abhishek Kapoor, won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for Kai Po Che! at the 68th Filmfare Awards.

YouTube

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Bhagat is also a YouTuber. His YouTube channel provides motivational tips to young Indians.[13]

He launched a podcast show Deep talk with Chetan Bhagat where he invites accomplished guests for a conversation about how they made it big in life.[14]

Filmography

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Five of Bhagat's novels have been adapted into films:[15]

Bibliography

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Novels

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Standalone

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Series

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  1. The Girl in Room 105 (2018)
  2. One Arranged Murder (2020)
  3. 400 Days (2021)

Non-fiction

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Awards and accolades

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Personal life

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Bhagat married Anusha Suryanarayan in 1998. He met her during their college days at IIM. One of his novels, "2 States" was inspired by his real-life love story. They have twin sons named Shyam Bhagat and Ishaan Bhagat.[4]

In the wake of the MeToo movement in India, an anonymous woman accused Bhagat of inappropriate behavior, by sharing the WhatsApp chat they had and alleging that he persistently pursued her despite her clear disinterest and his status as a married man. Bhagat later issued an apology through his Facebook account acknowledging his transgression towards the victim and also his wife. [23]

References

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  1. ^ Kalita, S. Mitra (17 May 2008). "Chetan Bhagat | The five-point formula: keep it simple". mint. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  2. ^ "The 2010 TIME 100 - TIME". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  3. ^ "An Interview With Chetan Bhagat". Forbes India. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Dahiya, Renu (31 May 2022). "Chetan Bhagat - Biography, Family, Books, & Achievements". Myticketstoindia.com. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Tale of the lucky hostel room". Hindustan Times. 24 February 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  6. ^ India TV News Desk (21 October 2013). "25 best quotes by Chetan Bhagat on career, education, love and success - IndiaTV news". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  7. ^ "The Sunday Tribune - Books". www.tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  8. ^ "IIM Ahmadabad celebrates alumni success with YAAA 2018". www.ibtimes.co.in. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Verveonline.com". www.verveonline.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  10. ^ AFP (26 July 2014). "Chetan Bhagat: From investment banking to Bollywood scripts". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  11. ^ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2372678/
  12. ^ Khan, Ujala Ali (19 February 2013). "Chetan Bhagat talks about Kai Po Che, the film based on his book". The National. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  13. ^ "Chetan Bhagat". YouTube. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Chetan Bhagat on his new podcast 'DeepTalk', reinventing himself, and his secret to a happy life - Times of India". The Times of India. 14 September 2022. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. ^ Grover, Reeka (10 April 2018). "Novels that became Movies: Chetan Bhagat - Movies". Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Book Review: India Positive, Chetan Bhagat". Deccan Herald. 23 June 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  17. ^ "The 2010 TIME 100 - TIME". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  18. ^ "Most creative people 2011:Chetan Bhagat". fastcompany.com. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  19. ^ "List of winners of Indian of the Year 2014". News18. 17 March 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  20. ^ "Chetan Bhagat Receives the Indian of the Year Award in the Entertainment Category from IBN". Desimartini. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  21. ^ "Chetan Bhagat: Writing For Millennials". Forbes India. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  22. ^ "Wings Publication announces winners of India's most prestigious book award - Golden Book Awards 2022". ANI News. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  23. ^ "Chetan Bhagat issues apology to woman and wife after harassment accusation surfaces". The Indian Express. 6 October 2018.
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