On the very day of 22nd April, 1974, the world, not even the almighty, realised that he was going to see a newborn, born on this day would be the ‘master of masterpieces’ in near future. Bought up at Naraina Vihar, West Delhi in a Hindu, middle class Punjabi family. This personality I am writing about has always been my all-time favourite. Being a bibliophile, I have always been a blissful reader of all of his books. Son of a retired colonel of Indian Army and a scientist of Indian Agriculture Research Institute, he, yes, CHETAN PRAKASH BHAGAT has created a mark in each and every reader and writer’s heart. Spending his schooling at Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, he was believed to be an average student at the age of 15.
Come-on, creative minds are average at school. After his schooling, he finished his degree of mechanical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and passed out with a 9+ pointer by 1995. Later, he joined Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for his Post Graduation Programme (Master’s). That’s where he met, Anusha @ Anusha Bhagat who he wouldn’t have imagined to be one among the protagonists of his novel which was his own marriage story in near future. Followed by PGP and the Pee! pee! Sounds of his fiancee’s south indian cultural instrument nadaswaram, the Punjabi + Tamilnadu wedding, he was placed from campus at PereGrine Investment Holdings, Hong Kong. In the same year of these incidents by 1998, the company closed its operations. Then, Bhagat joined Goldman Sachs at their Hong Kong office. People, I mean, the boss was so helpful to him in his writing career in terms of being the villain of his second book- ‘One night @ the call center’. He spent days at Goldman by writing ‘ 5 points someone’.
2 years later it was accepted and published by Rupa Publications. Bad luck with Goldman Sachs which Bhagat quit and later joined Deutsche Bank. By 2006 he became the Vice President of Strategic Hives group Hong Kong at Deutsche Bank itself. While ‘One night @ the call center’ was a bestseller, 2005 and 2006 were consecutively customized for Chetan. By 2008, along with his wife Anusha Bhagat popularly known as Ananya Subramanian(2 States: The story of my marriage) and his twin sons he returned to India. He joined the same bank in India as the Director of Distressed Assets – Kodak House, Mumbai. The very same year ‘3 mistakes of my life’ became a superhit by being sold over 5 Lakh copies in just 3 months. 2009 was the year of which Chetan Bhagat’s fans would have waited for. He decided to quit investment banking and become a full-time writer. Featuring in the Time Magazine’s “100 most influential people” under the Artist Category, followed by “100 most creative people” ‘s 49th position from the Fast Company – American Business and Media Brand.
His books received enormous attention as films in Bollywood. ‘One Night @ The Call Center ‘ as ‘Hello’ directed by Atul Agnihotri in 2008. In 2009 ‘3 Idiots’ based on Five Point Someone was released for which he didn’t receive his credits. ‘ Kai Po Che!’ In 2013, it was based on ‘3 mistakes of my life’ starring Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkumar Rao and Amit Sadh. He won an award for best screenplay in the same film with 3 others in the 59th Filmfare Awards. ‘2 States’ in 2014 starring Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor. 2014 was also one of those years where CNN-IBN honoured him as ‘Indian of the year’ in the Entertainment Category. His book, Half girlfriend was released as a film in 2017. Again comes the 100 in Forbes India Celebrity List, 82nd position after all the false accusations he faced the very same year. In 2018, the life-changing place of his own life, ‘IIMA’ awarded him the ‘Young Alumini’s Achiever’ under Art and Entertainment Category. Now, with several other masterpieces like ‘One arranged murder’ and ‘400 days’ and with shows like ‘One mic stand’ on Amazon Prime alongside his yotube channel and talk shows (300+), the master shines like a lamp that never goes off. There is no end for people who are genuinely god’s creativity. As he said, “Life is not about what you want to do, it’s about what you ought to do’. He did. And said ” Sometimes when nobody is by your side, you have to become your own cheering squad”. Now the whole squad of readers and writers squad, cheers for his masterpieces.
By – Keerthana Manasswini S
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