The 3 Mistakes of My Life : Chetan Bhagat

                                    Image Credit : Shelfari
I had unabashedly praised Chetan Bhagat's latest offering 2 States in a previous review. I had proclaimed to be pleasantly surprised at having actually enjoyed that particular book. And now I am back to reality with a bang. What do you do when you have a flight to catch? If you are a bookie, you would read. That's what I did while waiting for an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur in the steamy muggy city of Cochin or Kochi. I had a few hours to kill, and thrusting aside all old fears about Chetan Bhagat's books, I picked up the 3 Mistakes of My Life. Ah! My mistake!!

Writers take pride in drawing the reader in. But more than that, they ought to take pride in enriching the world of reading. It doesn't matter if your books are read by millions or just thousands - but it matters if they were good. Here in 3 Mistakes, Chetan Bhagat fails miserably. He has created a Bollywood script, not a novel. What are the standard ingredients for a great Bollywood movie? Love, friendship, dreams, a little bit of patriotism, lots of cricket, religion, and some soppy sentimentality. We have that here! In our book! All of it!

We follow Chetan Bhagat through a ludicrous beginning when he rushes to India after reading a suicidal fan mail. That fan in question is Govind. And it is at his bedside that dear Bhagat learns the story of poor Govind's three mistakes. Govind then becomes the narrator and through trite prose educates us on his friendship with Ishaan and Omi. Govind is ambitious - he aspires to be a businessman, Ishaan is an Army dropout, and I kind of forget what Omi was meant for anyway. The three of them open a cricket shop in a temple. Please let me not suffer again by repeating the story - suffice to say that their shop is successful, Govind ends up sleeping with Ishaan's sister, and blissfully conceals that fact from his best friend till the climax, and Bhagat chooses to wrap all of them against the backdrop of the Godhra riots. There is also little Ali, a cricket genius who can hit 6 sixers and then sits down with a migraine! Boy needs training apparently, he has some super fast brain that tires easily!

The Godhra riots and Ali form the climax, and here is where it becomes too trashy even for Bollywood. (Their standards have improved!). The Godhra riots were a stain upon India's humanity - but Chetan Bhagat makes them sound like the pot boiler stuff of a Rajanikant movie. He struggles to lend poignancy and only makes you aware how excruciating he can be when he tries to mix pathos and drama in his writing.

The ending was a migraine. I kid you not. People may say this is "time pass" in the way we Indians do. But come on, doesn't everyone say time is precious? Why waste it on this? Readers deserve more.

Verdict : Just watch a movie, forget this book. 


Rating: 0/5