The latest offering from Chetan Bhagat, ‘Revolution 2020’ is definitely a readable book, which forces the reader to think at times. The book very well fits in the category of his earlier successful books.
The Plot
The book deals with the real problem existing today, about the ugly nexus between politics and the education system in India, in which focus is more on making money from the system rather than imparting quality education. After reading the book, the reader is bound to look at all the educational institutions associated with politicians, with a kind of suspicion and doubt.
The book also brings out the psyche of society, which blindly considers a student brilliant and successful if he clears the entrance examination of top brand universities for admission into the Engineering and Medical courses. This is a real menace in Indian middle class homes, which creates unbearable stress for the children and high tension levels for their parents.
The book demonstrates that a person need not be an engineer to be successful. However, the means adopted by the character Gopal to become successful are not really adorable. Similarly, the character of Raghav, who is a brilliant engineering student having passion for journalism, is a bit exceptional case, and we may not find many of that category in real life.
The main characters
The story revolves around three childhood friends, Raghav, Gopal and Arti in Varanasi. Raghav cracks the IIT and gets admission in a Premium College. Gopal tries twice but is unsuccessful, in spite of taking special coaching in Kota during second attempt. Arti’s character is only to add emotions in the story.
Gopal accidentally meets the negative elements of the society after his failure in entrance exams and rises in material life. Unfortunately, the story portrays that a person, who failed in engineering entrance, becomes a director of an engineering college at young age of 24. This could be a reality, but then, it should not be glorified, as it hurts the ethics of the system we live in.
The pace and climax
The story picks up real pace in later half and climax comes when Gopal meets Raghav to tell him about his winning over Arti from him. The story for building up this scene has been very good, but the actual scene when it happens could have been narrated in a better manner. Much is left for the reader to assume, rather than putting the thoughts down. This could be a strategy from Chetan Bhagat, considering that the book would eventually be made into a movie and acting abilities of the actor portraying Gopal would be able to describe the feeling well. This is the difference between a book and a movie.
Also, the pace of the story till this scene is really fast and so, even after the climax is over, the story continues, which makes the reader to expect some more twist in the story. Unfortunately it does not come. So, in a sense, the climax is a bit wrongly placed and it would have been better to shift it a bit later in the story.
The Movie
The book is written with an intention to facilitate making a movie inspired by the book, some day. That is why there are many scenes of flashback, dream sequence and an open end to make a sequel. The story ends without a proper message and it is for the reader to assume things. It is unclear whether the author criticizes the negative character Gopal or eulogizes the good qualities in him, which come from his apparent transformation towards the end. This concept is very much like the film Raavan starring Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, in which the spectator is asked to judge whether a good person doing bad things or a bad person doing good things is Raavan in true sense.
If made into a movie, the characters suitable would be Akshay Khanna for Gopal, Akshay Kumar for Raghav and Priyanka Chopra for Arti.
The alternative climax
The story could have had an alternate climax. When Gopal meets Raghav and tells him about his winning over Arti, Raghav shows him a piece of a story he was working on. That story is about Arti meeting Gopal secretly in hotels and his bunglow. He says he is already aware about it.
And towards the end, MLA Shukla pressurizes Gopal to do anything possible to make Raghav keep quite. So, Gopal reaches a secret understanding with Raghav that he will leave Arti provided Raghav leaves his investigation on Shukla. This way, Gopal loses Arti, Raghav wins over her and Arti feels like a commodity in the power struggle between her two friends.
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