2 States - Book Review

Interested in light entertaining stories? Pick up Chetan Bhagat's "2 States". It is light, nicely humorous and meant to be read fast. Bhagat knows his readers or writes such that that segment of readers enjoys his books the most.

So, the story is about a Punjabi boy Krish and the love of his life - a Tamil Brahmin girl Ananya. They fall in love at IIM Ahmedabad and decide to get married after getting their respective jobs. As is the story of many many love stories in India, Chetan Bhagat explains that the boy's family needs to love girl's family and vice-versa to ensure that the love marriage is really accepted by the parents!

Krish goes to Chennai to woo Ananya's family and then Ananya comes to Delhi for the same. The real challenge is getting the 2 families to like each other. A lot of incidents in Chennai, in Delhi and eventually in Goa keep things rolling. The reading is full of humour. It keeps you interested without break. There are events happening non-stop. At times the story jumps from one event to another.

One thing that kind of does not add up is the character of Krish's father. The character is abrupt and his actions are mostly inexplicable. The last part of the story is somewhat cliched but I am ok with it since it finishes off quickly.

There are some interesting similarities in characters of his previous work "3 mistakes of my life" and "2 states". But the story is completely different. The biggest similarity is in the lead male and female characters of both the books. The characters here seemed to be more complete versions of those from the earlier book, especially Ananya.

There is also a sense of nostalgia that Chetan Bhagat brings in for folks who graduated around 1999/2000. The high cell-phone charges, tech bubble, use of STD booths etc. are so dear to the generation who were there then. Also, at times, some North India - South India marriage stuff reminded me of the 1993 Aamir Khan - Juhi Chawla movie Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke.

All in all, great read. Enjoy!

3 Cheers to Hindi Social Melodrama!

I was seeing Saaheb, an old Indian movie starring Utpal Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Raakhi Gulzaar and others. I had seen it many years ago when I was in school. This is a typical family melodrama with a joint family on the verge of break up.

This revisit to this movie probably 16-18 years later just made me realize some things that made such movies great viewing. I saw a small piece where Anil Kapoor fails in his exam and he returns home depressed late in the evening. Utpal Dutt, his father is waiting – I expected a shouting scene where the father goes on saying things that he should not.

Instead, the scene was so sensitive and delicate that I almost choked. The scene was a mature dialogue portraying a worried father communicating his worry and apprehension to a responsible but intellectually weak son. Some movies should be rated as “Can be seen by U but understood by A”. A 12-year old can not understand this...no way.

It is astonishing to realize what these fantastic actors can do to a scene. Utpal Dutt talking 2 or 3 simple lines to Anil Kapoor was just amazing.

Three cheers to Hindi Social MeloDrama....!