Thinking Activity: Revolution 2020

Revolution Twenty20

Hello friends! 

Welcome to my blog. In this blog, I am going to write about the contemporary novel Revolution 2020. One of the most famous popular writers Chetan Bhagat writes so many novels. " Revolution 2020" is written by Chetan Bhagat.

Brief Introduction about the novel

Revolution 2020: Love, Corruption, Ambition is a 2011 novel by Chetan Bhagat. Its story is concerned with a love triangle, corruption, and a journey of self-discovery. R2020 has addressed the issue of how private coaching institutions exploit aspiring engineering students and how parents put their lifetime earnings at stake for these classes so that their children can crack engineering exams and change the fortune of the family. While a handful accomplishes their dreams, others sink into disaster. Revolution-2020 happens in three stages in Chetan Bhagat’s novel and is listed as love, ambition, and corruption in the novel Revolution-2020.  All these three stages are played by Gopal, Aarti, and Raghav –characters in the novel. Gopal, Raghav, and Aarti have their own ambition in life. Gopal wants to be a rich man, Raghav wants to change the world and Aarti wants to become an air hostess.

The story is about Gopal’s consistent failures to crack an entrance exam which would help him a clean entry in an IIT. He loves a girl Aarti, who considers him just like a best friend, and is in love with Gopal’s childhood friend Raghav. Gopal tries to propose Aarti on many occasions but every time Aarti forbids him to do so. 

 "Imagine every Sadhu  and  priest in  Varanasi  more  than  all their  devotion  put together, that’s how much I loved her."

These lines of Gopal remind the lines of Hamlet, where Hamlet explains his love for Ophelia beyond any match. 

 

 “I loved Ophelia, forty thousand brothers Could not with all their quantity of love, make up my sum.”

In this novel, we find satire on politics and the education system. We can say that the novel has the plot of the education system and politics. 

"This novel is an X-Ray image of our Political and Education system."

The story revolves around the narrator Gopal as he shares his experiences with the author. As usual, this time as well the names of the main characters have been taken from Hindu mythology. Here is his tweet about this...

Our task is to ponder upon the questions given by the teacher. Let's discuss it in detail.

1)If you have to write a fan-fiction, how would you move ahead with the ending of this novel or what sort of change you would bring at the end of the novel?

I would like to change the ending of the novel in a positive way. In the original novel in the end we can not find the success of Raghav in bringing Revolution. So I would like to end this novel by bringing revolution somewhere in the world. And then I would like to continue this novel through the perspective of Raghav. I would also like to change Aarti's attitude towards education.

2)If you were to adapt this novel for the screen, what sort of changes would you make in the story and characters to make it better than the novel?

If I will adapt the novel for the screen then I will change the plot of the novel. Because Novel's title is Revolution Twenty 20 but it focuses more on love rather than revolution. It diverts the attention of the reader towards love. So revolution will be the central and major theme of my adaptation. I will make the theme of revolution stronger than the theme of love.

Second, I want to change the narrative technique of the novel. I will add an unnamed narrator to the screen. And the unnamed narrator will tell the story of this novel. I also want to change the character of Raghav by giving success to him in the end. The end of the novel will be the end of the revolution.

3) 'For a feminist reader, Aarti is a sheer disappointing character.' Do you agree with this statement? If yes, what sort of characteristics would you like to see in Aarti? If you disagree with this statement, why? What is it in Aarti that you are satisfied with this character?

Yes, I agree with this statement that Aarti is a sheer disappointing character. Because her character is very weak as compared to the other characters in the novel. She is the daughter of a rich family but she doesn't give importance to studying. She is shown as a simple girl in the novel. She can not decide her future. She doesn't know with whom she will be happy, Raghav or Gopal? When she is ready to stay with Gopal because of money at that time we find that she is not able to make the right decision in her life. She hasn't desire to do something for her family or for the country. So her character is very weak in the novel.

 

4)'For a true revolutionist, the novel is terribly disappointing.' Do you agree? If yes, what sort of changes would you make in character or situation to make it a perfect revolutionary novel? If you disagree, what is in the novel that you are satisfied with? 

Yes, I agree with this statement that the novel is terribly disappointing. Because if we look at the title itself, it highlights love rather than revolution. The word love is used 56 times in the novel while revolution is used 36 times. It suggests that it focuses on lovers more than revolution. The narration diverts towards love. The major concern to writing this novel is obviously revolution.

I would like to change the narration of the novel and that narration focuses on the revolution. For that, I would like to change the character of Raghav. Because Raghav is the only character who wants a revolution in the world.

Thank you...