'My book written by a man, in a woman's voice'

Chetan Bhagat outside his Bandra office, ahead of the release of his new novel, the first in which he is narrating the story from a woman's perspective. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

It's a crazy work day at author Chetan Bhagat's Pali Hill office. We catch him in the thick of a meeting with his all-woman team, where a frenzied discussion is on about his new release, One Indian Girl. Cardboard boxes bearing the weight of fresh copies of the new book, which soon - and to the displeasure of many - will be wiped clean off shelves, lie around the office space. Bhagat joins us immediately after the chat and, for some reason, appears bummed out. He's had a tight week, having just returned from the shoot of Half Girlfriend - a film based on his last novel - in the US. Back in Mumbai, he's already tied up with the promotions of his book. No breather, we think. But, appears it's not the only reason. "You must have heard," he asks.

Bhagat is alluding to a video he posted on Facebook a few days ago, and the massive trolling that followed. One Indian Girl, he informs us, is his first book to be written from a woman's perspective. "And, it covers one aspect of feminism," he says. We shall touch upon that later. Right now, it's his video that's drawing all our interest. It's the same video in which he mentions how he got himself waxed to experience the pain women go through each month, to look good. "…girls, lot of respect! And to think that girls do this regularly, maybe, like every month, was quite an experience for me," he said in the video.

It would have been a miracle if Bhagat's trolls hadn't caught that one. Surprisingly, he tells us that he hadn't seen that coming. "It's ridiculous," he says. "It's almost like people are trying to find a reason to pick on me," he adds. And while all the negative talk has left him more amused, than affected, Bhagat feels the need to explain himself. "I had to write a waxing scene for this book and thought that I should get one done before putting it on paper. Like people do method acting, I did method writing. The experience was painful for me and I spoke about it. And now people are already judging the book. I find it so unfair," he says.
Bhagat, India's paperback king, who is usually unruffled by the copious amount of hate he receives from certain quarters, doesn't want to take it easy this time. Why? "Because, with this book, we've got another chance or rather a reason, to talk about the issue of feminism," he says, convinced. Now, seems to be the right time to turn back to the book. "Feminist novel?" we ask, again. "No, not really! It's a book written by a man, in a woman's voice and talks about some women's issues. Feminism is a very broad topic and one story cannot cover it," he says.

At the heart of Bhagat's new novel is Radhika Mehta, a woman, who has made it big as an investment banker, but is judged negatively for being ambitious. "Her family wonders if she'll ever find a good match, because she's doing so well, and her boyfriend has become insecure, as she makes more money. It reaches a point where she nearly questions her own success and whether it's all worth it," says Bhagat. He adds that his reference point for this book was Indra Nooyi, CEO PepsiCo, who once said, "Women can't have it all." "She is one of the most successful executives in the world, but, when something like this comes from her, you want to go back and question a lot of things. We talk about empowering women, but when they get empowered, society doesn't know what to do with them. I wanted to highlight this issue with my story," he adds.

"But, I am no feminist," he insists, between nervous giggles. "It's a very touchy topic. And, I have already figured that I am entering a very sacred territory. A lot of people are already saying, ‘Ab yeh feminist bhi ho gaya?' People who are experts on the subject, probably think that I am appropriating their turf. But, I am just a storyteller. My job is to take an issue and build a story around it," he says.
"And women who have read my book, including actress Kangana Ranaut, think I have managed to get them, spot on," he says. At this point, our curiosity has heightened. We want to know how a man can write, think and feel like a woman. Bhagat tells us it took him 12 years to get the confidence to write this novel. "Such a book had to be written from a feminist's point of view. That was the biggest challenge," he says.

He interviewed over a hundred women, including his ex-girlfriends, over the last couple of years, and "just let them talk". In baring their souls, the women, says Bhagat, gave him the kind of insight that he sometimes found incredibly unsettling. Conversations about sex, included. "The thoughts that cross a woman's mind when having sex are so different from that of a man," he says. His book, he says, offers a glimpse into a woman's journey towards discovering her sexuality.

"I can tell you that there are many explicit scenes," he says, adding that he's already predicting, ‘more hatred"' on social media because of this. "They will focus on a few scenes, quote those lines on social media, and make a joke out of it," Bhagat says about the people from his troll paradise. "It doesn't feel great, but it doesn't define me."

Writing One Indian Girl, he says, has been his most enlightening experience yet. "I used to think that feminism is about giving women a choice. But, often women want both. They want to fly like a bird, and also make a nice nest. We fail to recognise their desires and wants," he says. "Instead of attacking me, people should focus on giving women their due."