Revolution 2020 is the recently released novel written by Chetan ‘5 Point Someone’ Bhagat. With a whooping 5 lakh pre-orders, the book is all set to break his old records. The story revolves around three childhood friends innocuously named Gopal, Raghav and Aarti and how can it not be a love story? The story is set in Varanasi, a rather eccentric choice for a book whose target audience live in metropolitan cities. The blurb at the end of the book claims the book is a love story with corruption as a backdrop. There could have been no better time than the present situation to release a book that has corruption has a theme.
What’s the plot?
The narrator of the book is Gopal Mishra, who comes from a middle class background and aspires to be rich. Raghav who comes from to a well to do family aspires to change the world and Aarti Pradhan is the daughter of a bureaucrat. Gopal goes to Kota, like thousands of other IIT aspirants with a hope to get a better rank than last time. Meanwhile, Aarti falls in love with Raghav, who clears the JEE and joins BHU. Gopal fails in clearing the exam and decides to join hands with a few corrupt people who could help him get his land issues solved and help him build an engineering college( and hence become the rich guy he aspired to be) . Raghav on the other hand rejects a job offer from Infosys and chooses to stay back in Varanasi to work for a daily newspaper. Gopal begins to use his newfound riches to woo back Aarti from Raghav who is ever busy with trying to change the world. So who gets the girl? You will have to read to find out.
What to expect?
If you think the book is on the lines of the former president Abdul Kalam’s 2020 vision, you are wrong. It is a love triangle story with the “revolution” theme taking a backseat for a major part of the book. Also, the theme is rather serious compared to his earlier novels and hence there is less humour in the book.
What I thought of the book.
The storyline is good and has content that most of the youth would relate to; however the writing is more like a movie script than a novel. A lot of the conversations were in dialogue form. Apart from Gopal, no other character is dealt with deeply. Aarti’s perennial confusion makes you wonder if girls really are like that or is it just her. Raghav is the typical clichéd good guy who wants to change the world. Chetan has not given us any deep insight on why he wants to change the world. All the other side characters seem too sketchy. It also lacks the usual amount of wit that you have come to expect from Chetan Bhagat. A major highlight of the book is the climax; it is unlike his earlier books.
Verdict
If you have loved Chetan Bhagat’s earlier books, there are high chances you would like this one too. It has so many experiences that the youth can relate to. It perhaps would have been more enjoyable had the title been something else because you would have known what to expect. Nevertheless, the book makes for an entertaining read and we recommend you read it.