One Indian Girl: Chetan Bhagat
Honestly, for the introduction, I would say that I might have expected more from Chetan Bhagat. His novel, One Indian Girl, became popular among the youths (for reasons very obvious). In this novel, the author claims to have taken the flag of feminism and, he says, tried to explore the female psyche in the matters of work, marriage and sex. However, unfortunately, the author’s good intentions could not meet likewise support by the technical aspects of One Indian Girl as a novel and it miserably failed to impress serious readers. Here is the review of this novel for The Last Critic by me, Nishant Sinha.
In the Sphere:
There are 42 chapters in the book that spreads almost 300 pages and, to be precise, 280 pages in paperback format. The ‘action’ or the novel takes place in three major places – New York, London and Hong Kong. It begins at a wedding and ends at a no-wedding or a hint of a wedding. However, what has captured the attention of the readers is not how it begins or ends but how it develops.
The Book:
Radhika is the ‘One Indian Girl’ of concern here. Chetan Bhagat says that he wished to write a woman’s perspective of life in the strict contexts (and I don’t know why and how did he manage to shrink the context only to having sex on the boat or on the cruise). It begins with a marriage hunt and eventually transforms into sexual pleasure hunting.
“That was her prime concern. Her twenty-three-year-old daughter, who grew up in middle-class West Delhi, had cracked a job at one of the biggest investment banks in the world and all she cared about was its impact on her groom-hunt.”
And this is also a matter of concerning limitation that most of the characters in the novels by Chetan Bhagat are familiar. Investment bankers or students – and young. However, Radhika’s marriage is a sure concern and it could have been a great novel had it focused on the social and psychological issues rather physical spectacle.
“He placed his hand on my breast, over my dress. He wanted to slide his hand in but couldn’t. I would have had to remove the entire fitted dress to give him access.”
And then it happens, eventually… all the guns of Chetan Bhagat’s sex on the beach fantasies…
“He placed his hand on my breast, over my dress. He wanted to slide his hand in but couldn’t. I would have had to remove the entire fitted dress to give him access.”
And all this concludes at nothing! Debu comes and fucks and goes away. Neel does the same and Brijesh comes as a solace. So, Mr Bhagat, where did all the feminism go away?
Conclusion:
The novel One Indian Girl is certainly about ‘one’ Indian girl who Chetan Bhagat has created in his fancy. However, this girl’s narrative is not hers at all; it is all about Chetan Bhagat’s own narrowed interpretation of the situations and scenarios. Radhika is there in the novel and that’s it – she is there in the novel only.
Good for entertainment purposes, One Indian Girl can be read by the youths who want to read casual fiction and enjoy it. You can get a copy of the novel from Amazon India by clicking the link below:
Buy the novel now: Amazon India
review by Nishant Sinha for The Last Critic
One Indian Girl
126 Rs
2.3
TLC Approves
- Interesting Story
- Entertaining Plot
TLC Disapproves
- Purely Casual Fiction
- Obscene and Excessive Sexual Content
- Useless Analgies
Post Series: Chetan Bhagat
- 1.One Indian Girl: Chetan Bhagat
- 2.Half Girlfriend by Chetan Bhagat – Book Review
- 3.Five Points Someone – Book Review – Chetan Bhagat
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