This Blog-post is a response to the thinking activity task on 'Revolution Twenty20' novel by Chetan Bhagat given by our professor Dr.Dilip Barad Sir. To know more about Comparative Literary Studies, CLICK HERE.
Author: Chetan Bhagat
Chetan Bhagat is a very famous and popular name among youngsters and young readers in India. He is very famous for his writing in simple but meaningful for life and everyday situations. is an Indian author, columnist, and YouTuber. He was included in Time magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Five of his novels have been adapted into films.((wikipedia.org))
About the Novel:
The entire story is set in Varanasi and Kota. Both places are quite significant through the flaw of narration and its narratology through the character's conversation and the narrator himself. The plot of the story flaws by a triangle love story of Gopal Raghav and Aart. The story mainly focused on three thematic concerns as it is on the book cover of the page, Love, Corruption, and Revolution. Read more about this novel.
Social realism in the Novel:
Social Reality in the novel presents contemporary India which is a very important concern by Chetan Bhagat. The novel mainly deals with Education and Corruption. Even the background canvas of the story is set in contemporary corrupt Indian society. There are two types of people, one who is corrupted and corrupts the education by money is Gopal and another who fights against corruption is Raghav. These two trajectories represent social realism.
Gopal and Kota City:
Throughout the novel, Gopal shifts to Kota city to crack AIEE/JEE. In the back story of joining Kota that his father forced him to go there and pass the exams to achieve a successful long life career. Here are some quotes from the text.
I could call myself a true Kota-ite a month into moving there. Like thousands of other students, my life now had a rhythm. Career Path resembled a school, but without the fun bits. Nobody made noise in class, played pranks on one another, or thought of bunking classes. After all, everyone had come here by choice and had paid a big price to be here.
After a few hours of sleep t would wake up and prepare for the next day's classes. In between, I did household chores, such as washing clothes and shopping for essentials. I went along with the madness, not so much because of the zeal to prepare, but more because I wanted to keep myself busy I didn't want Kotas loneliness to kill me.
"Get some then,' Shishir sir said, 'You need some friends in Kota to cope, I looked at Shishir, sir. He seemed young and genuine, I know how hard it is. I am a Kota product myself'.
'Relax' he said and extended his hand. I'm Prateek. From Raipur'
His stubbled face made him look more like an artist than an IIT
aspirant, 'Repeater?' Prateek said.
I nodded.
'Quitter,' he said.
'What's that?'
'Tried Kota. Didn't work. Still hanging around here to get some peace,
Anyway, not everyone in Kota had made it. Most students of Career Path had not made it. In fact, Vineet, the boy from Varanasi who went before me to Kota, hadn't made it either. But all 1 showed Baba was my sullen face
'Forty percent of students don't get placed?' I said, shocked. This could be worse than Kota, to finish your degree and get nothing at the end of it.
Kota City or 'Factory' is a word used by Aarti when she saved his name as Gopal Kota Factory. Even every character knows that hoe Kota city is the huge hub of education and coaching centers. Even Gopal's hesitation to be there and studying suggests how education becomes more embarrassing for those students who gained coaching forced by their parents.
Raghav and Varanasi:
Varanasi is the place where the holy river Ganga flows. Where people went for burial ceremonies as per the myth that their souls will go to heaven. Meanwhile, Varanasi is the place for Gopal as well as Raghav when it is not such a place that they can afford qualitative coaching to pass JEE/AIEE exams. Raghav who is an IITian and Journalist ran a journal named, 'Revolution 2020; and works with Dainik Media House.
Varanasi become popular for political reasons also. Many Indian politicians visited Varanasi and did religious practices such as pooja or Aarti in front of people to gain their religious sympathy towards their party. Gopal addressed his town,
I don't think my city is dirty. It is the people who make it dirty.
I could tell Raghav had worked hard on the story. He had suffered earlier for doing a story without evidence. This time he had left nothing to chance. The fake invoices, contractor-MLA link, and the audacity to dump the dirty water right back into the revered Ganga didn’t spell good news for Shuklaji. Locals would be livid. A politician stealing is bad enough, but to rob from the holy river is the worst sin. It’s not even a real newspaper,’ Shukla-ji’s PA was discussing the matter with someone. Couple of thousand copies, nobody will pay attention to it.’ The low circulation of Revolution 2020 had become the MLA’s only hope. Party workers had removed as many copies from the newsstands as they could. However, Revolution 2020 came free, like a brochure inside newspapers. It would be impossible to get rid of it completely.
Significance of the title 'Revolution Twenty20'
The title of the novel is very significant. Even the vice versa of written spelling of Revolution is significant. The word 'LOVE' spelled upside-down, signifies the core theme of Love or a love triangle between three major characters. Another connection is about IPL Twenty20 which is written in this way. And how the sub-title of the novel interwoven each other as themes. Corruption in Gopal, Shukla Ji, and other characters we can see while in Ambition we can see in a different way that Gopal's ambition is to achieve more success and money in a short time and while Raghav's ambition is to achieve something valuable for life and country without any corruption.
Her entry into the Sigra Stadium cricket ground would definitely disrupt the game. Batsmen would miss the bail, fielders would miss catches and jobless morons would whistle in the way they do to give UP a bad name.
Do you think that an opportunity of 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?
I don't think that the story told from Gopal's perspective is not appropriate as a good novel. The way Gopal is represented as an unethical antagonist impacts more than the simple or traditional way of making the wise and ethical hero the protagonist and that spark readers can easily keep with them. Gopal's character is like the open window. He comes as the open dairy because it is narrated by him. Meanwhile, Gopal as the anti-hero acts like a hero at the end of the novel by sacrificing his love for Aarti.
Gopal's perspective - Corruption
Raghav's perspective - Revolution
Aarti's perspective - Love
Gopal's character is only can able to present three thematic concerns of the novel. From Raghav's perspective, we can only read the narration of patriotism which we can not read from the other two. Another very important narration is about the conflict between parents-children and parents-children-education. That can be only possible through Gopal's perspective. Though these three characters seem connected with each other and presented the core concern of the novel.
Revolution 2020 to be made into a Movie - Chetan Bhagat Exclsuive Interview
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