Chetan Bhagat's Novels and their Film Adaptation

Journal of Research and Development Peer Reviewed International, Open Access Journal. ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-10(II)| October2025 167 Chetan Bhagat’s Novels and their Film Adaptation Dr. Manohar Purushottam Joshi1, Anil Subhash Thorabole2 1Research Guide, Dept, of English Walchand College of arts and science, Solapur PAHSU Solapur Maharashtra 2Research Scholar, Dept, of English Walchand College of arts and science, Solapur PAHSU Solapur Maharashtra Email-anilthorabole1[email protected] Manuscript ID: JRD -2025-171039 ISSN: 2230-9578 Volume 17 Issue 10(II) Pp. 167-169 October 2025 Submitted: 15 Oct. 2025 Revised: 25 Oct. 2025 Accepted: 27 Oct. 2025 Published: 31 Oct. 2025 Abstract: The relation of both, film and literature has been almost as old as humanity. Five of Chetan Bhagat’s novels have been adapted into Bollywood films like Hello in 2008 (based on One Night @ the Call Centre), 3 Idiots in 2009 (based on Five Point Someone), Kai Po Che! in 2013 (based on The 3 Mistakes of My Life); 2 States in 2014 (based on his novel of the same name) and Half Girlfriend in 2017 (based on his novel of the same name). In these films characters are guided by personal, interpersonal, social and cultural norms of verbal behavior. They greet and respond to greetings, they agree and tactfully disagree, they observe quantity, quality, relation and manner maxims or violate them, and they are direct or indirect in performing speech acts for a particular reason. Keywords: Chetan Bhagat, Novels, films, characters, Adaptations of films, interpersonal relationships Introduction: Film and literature are the artistic expressions of human mind. Man thinks of different ways of communicating human experiences to broaden the enlightenment scenario. At the very outset, nobody takes an interest and favour towards the connection of filming and writing (literature). Adaptation of literary genres for filming is not a new / recent phenomenon but an old one. Adaptations of films have various sources for e.g. theatre, novel, music and painting. All these sources get techniques of stage, lighting, movements and gestures, structures, characterization, theme, point of view, rhythm, repetition, colour & counter-point respectively. Adaptation of films (literature/text) has been an old phenomenon for the Indian film Industry. Main Points: Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author and columnist. He was included in Time magazine's list of World's 100 Most Influential People in 2010. Bhagat graduated in mechanical engineering at IIT Delhi and completed a PGP at IIM Ahmedabad. He started his career as an investment banker but left it after a few years to pursue writing. He has written ten novels and three non-fiction books. His first novel, Five Point Someone, was published in 2004. Chetan Bhagat is one of the few new age writers of India. His books have been a huge influence on today’s youth. For the people who are too lazy to grab a book and read for hours together these books have been adapted into movies. This trend is being followed for ages in Hollywood, in recent times, the adoption of books into movies has rapidly increased. Here are the Chetan Bhagat books which have been made into a film One night at call centre – hello (2008) Five points someone – 3 idiots (2009) The three mistakes of my life – Kai Po Che (2013) 2 States – 2 States (2014) Half girlfriend – Half Girlfriend (2017) Five of Chetan Bhagat's novels have been adapted into Bollywood films like Hello in 2008 (based on One Night @ the Call Centre), 3 Idiots in 2009 (based on Five Point Someone), Quick Response Code: Website: https://jrdrvb.org/ DOI: Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work noncommercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations ae licensed under the idential terms. Address for correspondence: Dr. Manohar Purushottam Joshi, English Walchand College of arts and science, Solapur PAHSU Solapur Maharashtra How to cite this article: Manohar Purushottam Joshi,Anil Subhash Thorabole,(2025 ), Chetan Bhagat’s Novels and their Film Adaptation,Journal of Research & Development, 17(10(II)),167-169 Original Article Journal of Research and Development Peer Reviewed International, Open Access Journal. ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-10(II)| October2025 168 Kai Po Che! in 2013 (based on The 3 Mistakes of My Life); 2 States in 2014 (based on his novel of the same name) and Half Girlfriend in 2017 (based on his novel of the same name). Bhagat has also written the scripts for Bollywood films like Kick in 2014 and adapted his stories for the movies Kai Po Che! and Half Girlfriend. Bhagat won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for Kai Po Che! at the 59th Filmfare Awards Event in 2014. He is also often found in controversies at twitter. His latest novel 400 Days which is based on a missing child and forbidden love was released on 8 October 2021. Original Book: Five Point Someone Film - 3 Idiots (2009) Storyline: Two friends are searching for their long-lost companion. They revisit their college days and recall the memories of their friend who inspired them to think differently, even as the rest of the world called them “idiots”. Original Book: The 3 mistakes of my life Film -Kai po Che! (2013) Storyline: Three friends growing up in India at the turn of the millennium set out to open a training academy to produce the country’s next cricket stars. Original Book: 2 States Film – 2 States (2014) Storyline: A story about a romantic journey of a culturally opposite couple – Krish Malhotra and Ananya Swaminathan. They meet at the IIM-Ahmedabad College and during the program they fall in love. Themes: Novels and Films As mentioned above, the meeting point of literature and film is their art of story-telling, or narration. The fusion of story and cinema, thus, places film in the continuing tradition of narrative forms such as epic, folk tale, myth and the novel. There are many types of films like documentaries, news films, educational films, etc. But movies generally connote a story film. Films continue that tradition of the narrative. Similarities between Novels and Films Novels are narratives. So, also are most of the films. Novels and films have narrative in common: the recounting of a sequence of events. Both of them tell stories about characters or what may be called the recounting of a sequence of events where the characters are active participants. However, sometimes certain characters are found to be quite passive.Films can easily be used to reinforce narrative information from a text currently being read in educational institutions as part of the curriculum. That is the reason why films have now become the central conveyors of narrative in our culture. Commenting on this aspect of films John Harington explains, while other art forms have taken centuries to develop, the span of a single lifetime has witnessed the birth and maturity of film.” Some critics find this similarity between the narrative form of the novel and the narrative form of the film significant, and describe, for example, Joseph Conrad and Henry James as ‘cinematic’. Films also have the same literary features that are found in a literary or print text, e.g. symbolism and characterization. Differences between Novels and Films The major difference between novels and films is that the author uses words but the film-maker uses pictures or images (not literary images). In a novel (book) a scene is described, in a film a scene is depicted. Though the differences look quite simple externally, they are, in fact, quite complicated. A writer uses different literary techniques such as narration, description, dialogues, interior monologues, figurative languages in the form of images, metaphors, etc. In a film, the film-maker uses mainly two modes: pictures and sound. These two modes also undergo through highly complex technical processes. For pictures depend upon ways of shooting (proper camera movement), lighting, colours, contrasts, mise-en-scene (setting, props, costume, make-up), actors and acting, and also proper editing. Sound, on the other hand, heavily depend upon verbal language, music (background music including songs and dances), environmental sounds as well as special sound effects. One very important difference to be noted is that visual images stimulate our perceptions directly, while written words can do this indirectly. Reading about a scene requires a kind of mental translation but viewing a picture of a scene does not. Film is a more direct sensory experience than reading. Besides verbal language, there is also colour, movement, and sound. Conclusion: Chetan Bhagat’s characters represent real people in real time. Like normal human beings they observe and violate the norms of conversation encapsulated in the form of politeness principle, cooperative principle, and speech act theory. These characters are guided by personal, interpersonal, social and cultural norms of verbal behavior. They greet and respond to greetings, they agree and tactfully disagree, they observe quantity, quality, relation and manner maxims or violate them, and they are direct or indirect in performing speech acts for a particular reason. However, the general reason is to establish and strengthen interpersonal relationships. Journal of Research and Development Peer Reviewed International, Open Access Journal. ISSN : 2230-9578 | Website: https://jrdrvb.org Volume-17, Issue-10(II)| October2025 169 References: Primary Sources 1. Bhagat, Chetan. Five point someone. Rupa & Company, 2004. 2. Bhagat, Chetan. The 3 Mistakes of my life. Rupa and Company, 2008. 3. Bhagat, Chetan. 2 States: The Story of My Marriage. Sandesh S, 2009. Secondary Sources 1. Harris Ross. Film as literature, literature as Film: An Introduction to and Bibliography of Film's Relationship to Literature. (New York: Greenwood, 1987) SML Reference Z5784 M9 R66 1987. Tom Costello. International Guide to Literature on Film. (London: Bowker-Saur, 1994) SML Reference, PN1997.85 I57 1994. 2. Jeffrey Egan Welch. Literature and Film: An Annotated Bibliography, 1909-1977. (New York: Garland, 1981)SML Reference, Z5784 M9 W37 William Kittredge and Steven Krauzer. (Eds.) Stories into Film. (New York: Harper and Row, 1979) Bass Stacks, PN6014 S87. 3. Jill Rubinson Fenton. Women Writers, From Page to Screen. (New York: Garland Pub., 1990) Bass Stacks, PN1997.85 W66 1990. 4. Larry Langman. Writers on the American Screen: A Guide to Film Adaptations of American and Foreign Literary Works. 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