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Are Indian Authors Running Out Of Plots?
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Plot 1: An engineering or MBA college, a nerd who’s never been on a date, a group of close mates and a gorgeous new girl on campus who sweeps him off his feet.
Plot 2: A mythological tale or folklore, a few popular mythological characters and the whole story based in today’s new age India.
Now, doesn’t it all sound way too familiar? It all started in 2004 when a certain Mr. Chetan Bhagat penned down “Five Point Someone”, a book based on life at the IIT. Now, the IITs have been the college of dreams for almost anyone and everyone and this was the first ever book which delved deep inside the world of their dreams. As a result, the book went on to become a bestseller and Bhagat, an overnight youth icon. Bhagat followed it up with more tales on student life and the problems of today’s youth which again resonated with the young generation and made him one of the most widely read authors in the country.
Now, let us go ahead by six years to 2010. The Indian youth had never really been interested in mythology or religion but all off a sudden everyone started reading about Shiva, yes you read it right. But this was the story of Shiva in the land of Meluha where he helps the tribe of Meluhans against the Chandravanshis. This unique tale was scripted by Amish Tripathy, another IIM graduate who followed it up with two other books in the Shiva trilogy which marked a beginning of a new genre in Indian writing.
It also sparked off a new trend with anyone and everyone penning down copy after copy of books, all based on the same two plot points. Yes ,this may sound derogatory but hundreds of clones of Bhagat and Tripathy have sprung up in the last few years and as a result the whole standard of English writing in India has unfortunately gone down. The country which has produced numerous great imaginative authors like Vikram Seth, Vikram Chandra, Shashi Tharoor, V.S Naipaul, R.K Narayanan and many others, has resorted to reading books on repetitive themes which do not really stimulate the grey cells. Its, thus, high time, that we expect the youth, or our esteemed readers to pen down something new, original, fresh and innovative so that we can match up to the standards of the previous generation.
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S Ghosh
Writers like Bhagat write books for a certain group of people who are neither in a position to understand nor want to read serious literature. And it’s dangerous to call them either ‘youth’ or ‘India’. There are several kinds of readers, and we need to write books for all. Bhagat reaches to every person across society even to the class 8 boy who is being taught in a vernacular medium school in rural India. If the people like the kid try their first book and become happy interpreting an English fiction, I’m sure there is no harm in that. And we, who think the book will not charm, can simply skip and pick any other book.
I’m not buying the idea that people bought the Bhagat’s books just because they dreamed of IITs but because they chose to read in a certain language what they use on streets. And I couldn’t find any religious or superstitious theme from Amish’s book either.
I’m not among those who think that the standard of English writing in India has ‘unfortunately’ gone down just because of these books but because we are not giving opportunities to learn this language properly to all. It has fortunately ruptured the wall between elitists and unsophisticated people. It’s good that English is no longer a language of privileged class and has reached to every cluster of society. Kudos to the Bhagats! They have shattered the stereotype. On the other hand, people like us who practice serious literature are also getting good books from writers like Jeet Thayil, Nilanjana Roy, Mridula Koshy and many others.
Unfortunately Neelabjo kept the whole article very vague and biased even though he claims and encourages people to write thought provoking books. I have found quite a few grammatical mistakes in this article that has raised the question in my mind that the fact that probably English is deteriorating.
I’d like to request the writer of this article not to keep ‘readers’ and ‘youth’ in mutually exclusive sets; and also, give a space to all who like the sheer joy of writing. Don’t be so stereotypical while defining ‘youth’. At the end, the writers write books for themselves and readers choose to read the ones which interest them.
S Ghosh
Writers like Bhagat write books for a certain group of people who are neither in a position to understand nor want to read serious literature. And it’s dangerous to call them either ‘youth’ or ‘India’. There are several kinds of readers, and we need to write books for all. Bhagat reaches to every person across society even to the class 8 boy who is being taught in a vernacular medium school in rural India. If the people like the kid try their first book and become happy interpreting an English fiction, I’m sure there is no harm in that. And we, who think the book will not charm, can simply skip and pick any other book.
I’m not buying the idea that people bought the Bhagat’s books just because they dreamed of IITs but because they chose to read in a certain language what they use on streets. And I couldn’t find any religious or superstitious theme from Amish’s book either.
I’m not among those who think that the standard of English writing in India has ‘unfortunately’ gone down just because of these books. It’s happening because we are not giving opportunities to learn this language properly to all. It has fortunately ruptured the wall between elitists and unsophisticated people. It’s good that English is no longer a language of privileged class and has reached to every cluster of society. Kudos to the Bhagats! They have shattered the stereotype. On the other hand, people like us who practice serious literature are also getting good books from writers like Jeet Thayil, Nilanjana Roy, Mridula Koshy and many others.
Unfortunately Neelabjo kept the whole article very vague and biased even though he claims and encourages people to write thought provoking books. I have found quite a few grammatical mistakes in this article that have raised the question in my mind that the fact that probably English is deteriorating.
I’d like to request the writer of this article not to keep ‘readers’ and ‘youth’ in mutually exclusive sets; and also, give a space to all who like the sheer joy of writing. Don’t be so stereotypical while defining ‘youth’. At the end, the writers write books for themselves and readers choose to read the ones which interest them.
S Ghosh
Bhagat writes books for a certain group of people who are neither in a position to understand nor want to read serious literature. And it’s dangerous to call them either ‘youth’ or ‘India’. There are several kinds of readers, and we need to write books for all. Bhagat reaches to every person across society even to the class 8 boy who is being taught in a vernacular medium school in rural India. If the people like the kid try their first book and become happy interpreting an English fiction, I’m sure there is no harm in that. The rest, people like us, have full liberty to skip the book and choose another.
I’m not buying the idea that people bought the Bhagat’s books just because they dreamed of IITs but because they chose to read in a certain language what they use on streets. And I couldn’t find any religious or superstitious theme from Amish’s book either.
I’m not among those who think that the standard of English writing in India has ‘unfortunately’ gone down because of these books. It has gone down because we are not creating a space where people can enhance their creative skills. But it has fortunately ruptured the wall between elitists and unsophisticated people. It’s good that English is no longer a language of privileged class and has reached to every cluster of society. Kudos to the Bhagats! They have shattered the stereotype. On the other hand, people like us who practice serious literature are also getting good books from young writers like Upamanyu Chatterjee, Jeet Thayil, Nilanjana Roy, Mridula Koshy and many others.
Unfortunately Neelabjo kept the whole article very vague and biased even though he claims and encourages people to write thought provoking books. I have found quite a few grammatical mistakes in this article that have raised the question in my mind that the fact that probably the English is deteriorating.
I’d like to request the writer of this article not to keep ‘readers’ and ‘youth’ in mutually exclusive sets; and also, give a space to all who like the sheer joy of writing. Don’t be so stereotypical while defining ‘youth’. At the end, the writers write books for themselves and readers choose to read the ones which interest them.
Neelabjo Mukherjee
Sir i never meant to criticise Bhagat or Tripathy in this article.I truly believe that they have reached out to the masses and ruptured the wall between the elitist and the unsophisticated(though i find the word rather derogatory).
I only tried to say that they have inspired or given birth to numerous clones who keep repeating the same old themes and plots in the name of literature.That i believe is not really encouraging as far as the greater picture is concerned.
I never mentioned Tripathys work as superstitious or religious.I merely said that he is inspired by mythological characters like Shiva which i think you wiull agree.
Lastly thanks for pointing out the grammatical errors.Its definitely my fault and i would be more attentive towards that in the future.
Nevertheless thanks for your worthy feedback.It means a lot.
somal thakore
I agree with S Ghosh. The current Indian English writer , if not all, assemble creativity and pack it up with the exact ratio about the CiityMarkets ( Entry level readers ) in mind, which again if not wrong is also not pure in Itself. Call it Bollywood Potboilers on Paper.