CHENNAI: Bestselling author Chetan Bhagat believes that the way to really be a nationalist in India is to help the economy grow. Pronto. Speaking to Kaveree Bamzai at TNIE's Odisha Literary Festival 2020, held virtually, the author who is out with his new book One Arranged Murder, said, "You can’t just take growth for granted. We need to make money, you want to call yourself a nationalist, help India get rich. Nobody respects a poor country, irrespective how wonderful your traditions are and how great the food is."
A former banker who has since gone on to author some of India's biggest selling books in Five Point Someone and The Girl in Room 105, said that he now on a mission to make the Indian youth think, "The youth spends almost six-seven hours on their phones. It is making you lose the ability to think, I can’t appeal to the rational side of youth anymore because they don’t like to use that part of that brain and when you don’t that part gets atrophied," he explained before adding, "I have a new goal and that’s to awaken the youth. If you end nepotism in Bollywood are you going to become a star? The system is rigged and unfair, it’s true, but you need to create a life for yourself that’s not about trolling others."
Excerpts from the conversation:
On his new book, One Arranged Murder
Even though this one is a whodunit, you’ll find some mirroring of what’s happening around us, be it the media’s handling of cases or the recession. I wanted to capture an India that is in a slightly darker space.
On real growth
You can’t just take growth for granted. We need to make money, you want to call yourself a nationalist, help India get rich. Nobody respects a poor country, irrespective how wonderful your traditions are and how great the food is. All cultures are beautiful. Look at Africa, that’s where it started for all humanity but nobody takes Africa as seriously as America or Europe because they have money. If India becomes an empowered country everyone will know about our culture. Why do we know so much about American culture and their elections? Because they are rich.
On technology and youth
The youth spends almost six-seven hours on their phones. If you’re addicted to this then you’re not watching mind-broadening stuff, you’re on Instagram or some other junk. It is making you lose the ability to think, I can’t appeal to the rational side of youth anymore because they don’t like to use that part of that brain and when you don’t that part gets atrophied. They only have extreme emotions, extreme hate for a politician or extreme love for a politician, or a celeb, or extreme reactions to an ad. That’s an entire generation that has stopped thinking and if you stop thinking you’re not going to do well and your country is not going to do well. Will I do well if I only troll (someone)? The 25% GDP contraction is real, we need to work and we need to make money. If you want to do something for the country, there are a hundred causes which you can make a noise about and I’ll admire you, be it Dalits or animal rights.
On what the people want
It's one thing if the government is unpopular, it's another thing if the leader is extremely popular because he is delivering exactly what the people want. The government has realised that the people are okay with bad schools, or bad hospitals, that's clearly the message. The government is trying to get the economy going and has taken some initiatives in the last few weeks, but people were interested in the Tanishq ad or in Sushant Singh Rajput. Every month, organically a Hindu-Muslim issue comes up. I think there's a problem with the liberal argument that says ‘let's blame Modi for everything’. It’s never about an individual, it's always about society. We’ve given power to the people. Until now, elites were controlling the narrative but people have to learn how to handle that power. Yes, you have power. You can use it to bully Tanishq or turn five more companies like Tanishq to India.
On media and entertainment
If you want entertainment, you have Netflix, Amazon Prime or YouTube, don’t expect entertainment in your news. Don’t say I’ll only watch the anchor if he’s angry or if there’s a fight. It’s like saying I’ll learn maths if my teacher is shouting and dancing on the table. I like drama in dramatic adaptations but we need to take our news seriously. And the news channels are already suffering because all the money is going to Google or Facebook, they are dancing to entertain you and they are crossing new lines every day.
On his new priorities
I have a new goal and that’s to awaken the youth. If you end nepotism in Bollywood are you going to become a star? The system is rigged and unfair, it’s true, but you need to create a life for yourself that’s not about trolling others. This is the first generation that has an Internet that’s native to them. Whereas we’re the chitrahaar generation. It was a playlist of six songs played by the government at 8 pm on Wednesdays and on Thursday it would feature regional picks and we’d watch that too. We were so starved of entertainment but this generation has an oversupply.
India’s ‘gareeb’ has changed, the social structure here is such that even if you don’t have a job and your brother does, you'll think I’ll live with him. You can get a chhole bhature at fifty bucks and data is ten bucks a day, you can consume data and eat tasty food and you may think it’s too much work being successful. India is like that, it doesn’t judge you, it doesn’t kick you out. But when you fall sick you can’t get a bed, that is bad in terms of big infrastructure.
On public intellectuals
Sometimes I think liberals just want to be correct, they don’t want to fix things. Some of them sound so elitist, it comes across as really fake and the colonial hangover shows. They need to be more accessible and use easy language. I think they appeal to morality like school prefects. I don’t want that, people are not going to change, the section of Hindus who feel Muslims are the problem, they don’t see themselves as privileged. But talk about how they are harming their own kids’ and their jobs, in order to make them listen.