Chetan Bhagat said that his new book will be called “One Indian Girl”.
Bhagat had earlier said that the new book will be written in female first person style and will put female voice to the fore.
“One Indian Girl is about an Indian girl who is intelligent and successful, because of which she finds it difficult to get love,” says Bhagat in his introduction to the novel.
The protagonist of the novel will be a young Indian girl called Radhika Mehta, who’s about to get married.
“I work at Goldman Sachs, an investment bank,” she says. “Thank you for reading my story. However, let me warn you. You may not like much.”
The characterization of the girl seems to indicate that Chetan Bhagat is targeting the hypocrisy of the Indian middle class — which tries very hard to appear ‘modern’ on the one hand, but under the surface holds on to the prejudices and belief systems of the traditional Indian.
Mehta says you — meaning the typical English-speaking middle class Indian — may not like her story. Why?
“One, I make a lot of money. Two, I have an opinion on everything. Three, I have had a boyfriend before. OK, maybe two.
“Now if I were a guy, you’d be cool with it. Since I am a girl, these things don’t make me likeable, do they?”
Bhagat himself says that the book hopes to question society, which judges women achievers.
“It asks why when it comes to love, being intelligent and too successful is almost a drawback for women.”
Chetan Bhagat is considered the most successful English-language author in India in recent times.
He has written titles such as Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), What Young India Wants (2012) (speeches and columns), Half Girlfriend (2014) and Making India Awesome (2015).
Each new title from Bhagat is welcomed with a lot of anticipation and celebration by his fans in the country.
Bhagat, however, has also had his fair share of critics, some of whom consider his writing to be of lower quality — though commercially more successful — than those of an earlier generation of Indian fiction writers such as Nayantara Sehgal, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie.
Bhagat has also earned the ire of some, particularly on the Left, for his support of BJP politician Narendra Modi, who is now the Prime Minister of India.
He has also released a trailer for the novel, which is scheduled to be released on Oct 1.
Also see: Is One Indian girl about sex or feminism?
[socialpoll id=”2382161″]