Hello friends
I am Nehalba Gohil and I am student of Department of English, MKBU.This blog is a part of my classroom thinking activity and this activity given by Dr. Dilip Barad sir
About Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author and columnist. He was included in Time magazine's list of World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Bhagat graduated in mechanical engineering at IIT Delhi and completed a PGP at IIM Ahmedabad.
Chetan Bhagat has write many novels
Five of Chetan Bhagat's novels have been adapted into Bollywood films like Hello in 2008 (based on One Night @ the Call Center), 3 Idiots in 2009 (based on Five Point Someone), Kai Po Che! in 2013 (based on The 3 Mistakes of My Life); 2 States in 2014 (based on his novel of the same name) and Half Girlfriend in 2017 (based on his novel of the same name). Bhagat has also written the scripts for Bollywood films like Kick in 2014 and adapted his stories for the movies Kai Po Che! and Half Girlfriend.
Bhagat won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for "Kai Po Che". At the 59th Filmfare Awards in 2014. He is also often found in controversies at twitter. His latest novel 400 Days which is based on a missing child and forbidden love was released on 8 October 2021.
About novel
Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition is a 2011 novel by Chetan Bhagat. Its 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's earnings on stake for these classes so that their children can crack engineering exams and change the fortune of the family. While a handful accomplish their dreams, others sink into disaster
The author stated that the novel is based on the "rampant corruption" apparent in the Indian educational system, with the choice of Varanasi as a setting emerging through "a special connection to the city" following his visit. He further said "it is one of our oldest cities, and people there now have modern aspirations. I thought the contrast would be interesting. The city also has a lot of character.
1 ) Social realism in the novel
The present paper is an honest attempt to understand the concept of social realism in literature. Realism, broadly speaking, is the faithful or truthful representation of the events in a matter of fact way avoiding any kind of embellishment or glorification. In literature, the term ‘realism’ is associated with a number of prefixes that varies its trends of presentation. There may be philosophical realism, magic realism, surrealism, hallucinatory realism, social realism and many more. Social realism is a literary technique that presents a true picture of society. It also mirrors the life as it is and offers social commentary. The novelists who use the technique of social realism often present the social evils, social injustice and social issues that affect the life of middle class particularly. Chetan Bhagat is the well known author of six novels and all these novels are about the youth, their aspirations and problems, their struggle, success and failures. According to Chetan Bhagat, the young generation of India is on the verge of destruction. They are indulged in drinking, smoking, sex and illegal business. Gopal, the narrator-cum-protagonist of Bhagat’s fifth novel Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition (2010) symbolically stands for the young generation of India who are walking on the wrong path. Aarti, the only female character in the novel enjoys Gopal’s company for drinking and develops sexual relations with him though she loves Raghav. Thus, by introducing these two characters, Chetan Bhagat succeeds in presenting degradation of moral and ethical values in Indian society. Gopal, Aarti and Raghav are three young aspirants in the novel who aspire for being successful person in their life. Gopal, because of his father’s wish wants to be an engineer but couldn’t make it. Aarti wants to be an airhostess but fails and Raghav has great ambition of eradicating corruption. These three characters have faced severe problems while achieving their target. Through these characters, the novelists tried to depict the problems of youth such as unemployability, poverty and failure and malpractices in the society, etc.
2 ) Significance of the title revolution 2020
R2020 as the book title says is the brain child of one of the characters in the story- Raghav Kashyap. He has a vision to bring a revolution in India by the year 2020. It's the name of the newspaper or rather newsletter which he feels will bring a change in the country. He uses various sting operations to expose the corrupt practices in the society through the newsletter. Needless to say, some political goons will ransack it and the newsletter will be razed off. However the idea will still remain and ignite the revolution.
3) Do you think that an opportunity of a good novel is wasted because the story is told from Gopals 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 perspective ?
As the title suggests, ‘Revolution 2020 - Love, Corruption, Ambition’, this book is composed of all of these elements in substantial amounts. The story is set in the aesthetic ghats of Varanasi, where beginning and end collide into one. There are three protagonists in the tale, Aarti, Gopal, and Raghav. The story is narrated through Gopal’s perspective who is a middle-class boy with eyes full of dreams. There is a love triangle in the story. Both of them love the same girl, Aarti. And then starts the scuffle between Gopal and Raghav. Gopal’s story is tainted with corruption, while Raghav flourishes through his staunch ambitions.
Now, the storyline is pretty cliche, but what made this book worth reading was the pool of emotions floating in the storyline. ‘Revolution’ was not a soul uplifting metaphor. It was rather a political ideology that ran in the Ganges of Varanasi. The book is gripping and one can pull an all-nighter while reading it. It is impressive and would make you feel a splurge of sentiments in your heart. The destinies of all the characters are intertwined and as it is said, all of them meet at the same point.
There is a stark contrast in the character development of Raghav and Gopal. Gopal seeks refuge in the political system and enters the cobweb of corruption. He weaves his own world under the hands of a highly corrupt MLA. He is a classic example of rags to riches. He wanted to raise the bar of his living standards and being rich was his only motive through life. On the contrary, Raghav is focused on uplifting society and wants to make this world a better place to live. He enters the realm of journalism and strives to make a change, for good.
Aarti’s dilemma is acceptable as she was dealing with two different entities. She always tried to make a balance between the two but failed miserably.
