Half Girlfriend

Half Girlfriend
Author Chetan Bhagat
Country India
Language English
Genre Romance
Publisher Rupa & Co.
Publication date
 October 2014
Media type Print (paperback)
Pages 260
ISBN 978-81-291-3572-8

Half Girlfriend is an Indian English coming of age, young adult romance novel by Indian author Chetan Bhagat.[1] The novel, set in rural Bihar, New Delhi, Patna, and New York, is the story of a Bihari Boy in quest of winning over the girl he loves. This is Bhagat's sixth novel which was released on 1 October 2014[2] by Rupa Publications. The novel has also been published in Hindi[3] and Gujarati[4] versions as well. A Bollywood film adaptation is planned.

Dedicated to "non English-types", the book divulges the sentiments and linguistic struggles of a backward rural Bhojpuri-laced Hindi speaking boy from Bihar as he enrolls himself at the prestigious English-medium St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and falls in love with a "high class English speaking rich Delhi girl". The girl does not admit the relationship but agrees to be his "half girlfriend".[5] Chetan Bhagat commented, "Half-Girlfriend, to me, is a unique Indian phenomenon, where boys and girls are not clear about their relationship status with each other. A boy may think he is more than friends with the girl, but the girl is still not his girlfriend. Hence, I thought we needed a term like 'Half girlfriend'. Because, in India, that is what most men get."[5]

Plot summary

The story begins with Madhav Jha, a rural boy from Dumraon, a village in Buxar, Bihar, as he comes to meet the author Chetan Bhagat and leaves behind a few journals from his half-girlfriend who he believes has died. Chetan Bhagat calls him up the next morning to hear his story. He starts by describing his trouble entering St. Stephens, as his English was quite bad. Being a good basketball player, Madhav Jha gets admission through his sports quota.

The rich and beautiful Riya Somani, a girl from Delhi, is also selected through the sports quota. Madhav and Riya become close friends due to their association with basketball. Madhav wants to make her his girlfriend, but she refuses. He demands that they get physical. Offended by his obscene ultimatum (Deti hai to de, warna katle), Riya parts company with him and tells him not to talk to her anymore.

A year later, Riya marries her childhood friend Rohan and settles in London, where Rohan has a big business. Finding Delhi unbearable on grounds of losing Riya, Madhav settles in his hometown and helps his mother, Rani Sahiba, run her school. Seeing the condition of the school – no proper classes or toilets – Madhav decides to meet local MLA Ojha for financial help, but the MLA is refuses to help. An opportunity comes when MLA Ojha informs Madhav about Bill Gates' visit to some schools in Bihar. Madhav tries his best to convince Gates to fund his schools' development, but to do so he has to prepare a speech, preferably in English.

In the course of his struggle, he comes across Riya, who is a divorcee. Riya helps him prepare the speech. The two are successful in their fundraising, but, after the speech, Riya leaves a letter for him which states that she has lung cancer. Riya's letter confesses her love for Madhav but states she has three months to live. When Madhav attempts to track her down, he finds that she has cut all ties in India and has disappeared.

After three years, it is revealed from Riya's journals that she is alive. Madhav goes in search of her in New York. After three months of extensively searching, he finds her in a bar working as a singer. They get married soon after.

The book ends as the author visits the rural school in Dumraon three and a half years later; he discovers it is being run successfully by Madhav and Riya, who now have a son, Shyam.

Main characters

Reception

Rituparna Chatterjee of CNN-IBN called it a "massively disappointing book written exclusively for another Bollywood sobfest".[6] Pranav Joshi of Daily News and Analysis called it "old wine in new glass" with a rehashed storyline that promotes negative stereotypes.[7] Saket Suman of The Statesman called it "in no way convincing as a novel" and suggested that people wait for the Bollywood adaptation.[8]

On 9 November 2014, Devapriya Roy wrote an open letter in the voice of the character Riya Somani to Chetan Bhagat. Riya expresses her displeasure by briefly asking how readers will understand her side of the story by just going through six entries from her personal journal which is cited in the novel. She also shares that her death was faked by the author in the novel just to give a taste to the readers.[9]

Adaptation

The film rights to the novel were sold before it was published.[10] A Bollywood film adaptation will be directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Ekta Kapoor and Bhagat.[11] It will star Arjun Kapoor[12] and Shraddha Kapoor.[13] It is the first film Bhagat has produced.[14]

References

  1. ↑ "Chetan Bhagat agrees in Delhi HC to change setting of 'Half Girlfriend'". DNA/Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. PTI. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Nair, Nithya. "Chetan Bhagat launches new book ‘Half Girlfriend’ with Ekta Kapoor and Mohit Suri". India WebPortal Private Limited. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Half Girlfriend (Hindi) Paperback – 1 Mar 2015". Amazon.in.
  4. ↑ "Half Girlfriend (Gujarati) Paperback – 9 Mar 2015". Amazon.in. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Half Girlfriend - Q & A". Chetan Bhagat. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
  6. ↑ Chatterjee, Rituparna (10 October 2010). "Interactive, live review of Chetan Bhagat's 'Half Girlfriend' on Facebook and Twitter: A massively disappointing book written exclusively for another Bollywood sobfest". CNN-IBN. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Joshi, Pranav. "Book Review: Half Girlfriend is old wine in new bottle". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  8. ↑ Suman, Saket (22 October 2014). "Watch the adaptation of Half Girlfriend". The Statesman. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  9. ↑ "An open letter from Riya Somani to Chetan Bhagat". Scroll.in. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  10. ↑ Rajani, Kanika (17 October 2014). "Bhagat to co-produce Half Girlfriend". The Indian Express. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Mohit Suri kick starts ‘Half Girlfriend’". The Free Press Journal. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Arjun Kapoor replaces Sushant Singh Rajput in 'Half Girlfriend'". The Indian Express. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  13. ↑ Iyer, Meena (2 January 2016). "Shraddha Kapoor is the ‘Half Girlfriend’". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Pathak, Ankur (16 September 2014). "Chetan Bhagat turns producer with Half Girlfriend". The Times of India. Retrieved 25 November 2015.

External links

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