Too cute by Chetan Bhagat on this entire 3-idiots issue. I cant even understand what the fuss is all about. Read on..
Lemme just quickly summarise the issue.
1. The closing credits of the movie says - "Based on the novel 5 point someone by Chetan Bhagat"..Yes, it does, I saw it !
2. Chetan Bhagat signed an agreement with the movie team for the above and also accepted consideration (money) for the adaptation of his book
3. Now, he claims that he should have been given more credit (read:opening credits) for his movie. Further, he claims his mother was in tears coz he wasnt in the opening credits when she saw the movie (advice: he should have told her b4 she saw the movie, methinks)
4. The media of course blew up the issue with no one bothering about legalities etc (as usual). Chetan cutely landed up on national TV making various "emotional" pleas, where there isnt any case at all. He is also saying that the movie is 70% adapted from his book etc etc- trust an ex I-banker to come up with a spurious number. These metrics are tough to come up with and surely should have been thought of before signing the agreement.
To come up with all this after he had signed agreements, accepted consideration, seen premieres etc etc, I can only think that he was taken aback by the scale of the movie's success and hence, wanted more mention (ahead of Abhijat Joshi, who has done a fabulous job).
Not only is Chetan wrong, he is also just using the media to create an unnecessary issue, trying to take away (& not succeeding :)) from the sheen of the movie's success!
Vir Sanghvi has written on this issue in the Sunday HT. The article will appear today evening on his blog (http://www.virsanghvi.com/). Vir has made points similar to the above and even mentions that HT has had unsavory experiences when Mr. Bhagat was writing for them. Vir though is critical of the movie team for their lack of grace in response. Fair point, but I am not sure I agree. I dont think the kind of rhetoric that Chetan indulged in, deserves any grace !!!!
WOW! That was quite a critical or shall I say a fair assessment of the author’s role in the whole movie!!!! By the way ur grandma also got to read ur writing and could not get head or tail of the whole thing! Great going Son!!! Go on!!!.....
ReplyDeleteFrom your Aunt