Revolution 2020

Chetan Bhagats fifth book Revolution 2020: Love.Corruption.Ambition was released

after a two year drought after the release of 2 States: The story of my marriage. His first
four books being successive best sellers, the expectations were very high from this which
seemed different from his other books.
Revolution 2020 was published in India by Rupa & Co. in 2011, pp 296. This story
belongs to realistic fiction genre. Chetan Bhagat books are usually based on a love story
where the couple is clearly shown from the very beginning, whereas this time he has tried
his hand at a love triangle involving the main protagonist Gopal, who wants to become
rich, and two of his school friends Raghav who wants to bring a change in the world, and
Aarti who wants to become an air hostess..
The topic of corruption in India has been introduced in this book. Probably it wasnt
supposed to be that way when he started writing the book but the issue of corruption was
reignited by Anna Hazare during that time.
Another interesting fact different from his earlier books is that the main protagonist is
shown as someone who isnt already rich but has to save money to life a decent life. What
the book lacks is the kind of humor he has given in his other books.
The book is predictable and feels like such parts have been stretched. In spite of this the
ending of story was bit of a surprise. The characters have been well etched, also their
transition as they grow into adults from kids has been portrayed very smoothly.
The story is setup in the holy city of Varanasi. This time he has gone beyond the metros
and has put in a lot of research to match with the semi-urban culture, society and
characters with such finesse.
The narrator of story is Gopal, who comes from a middle class background with only his
father to support him. His classmate Raghav comes from a well off family and also hes
been shown to be a muscular guy with not only appealing looks but also great
intelligence. Gopal loves his childhood friend Aarti who comes from a political family,
pampered and blessed with beauty.
After the failure in getting through JEE and AIEEE exams, Gopal is forced to repeat the
exams next year. His father spends all he had to see his son secure a good rank and to see
him join a good college. On the other side, Raghav clears both these exams in the very
first attempt and gets a seat in a top college in Varanasi. Aarti joins air-hostess training.
Gopals father dies after seeing his son fail again, waste his one year and all his life
savings, and leaving huge debts on him. Gopal considers Aarti as his only life support till
he meets a local politician Shukla ji.

Gopal expresses his liking for Aarti as, People come to my city to feel the presence of
God, but I could feel her presence everywhere. But Aarti gets closer to Raghav while
Gopal was away.
Gopal loses his love, family, and dream of joining a good engineering college and he
chooses corruption as an aid to fulfill his dream of becoming a successful person.
Meanwhile Raghav takes on his dream of becoming a journalist and creating an impact
on the world.
Gopal with the help of Shukla ji build a college on some land that belonged to his late
father. The author portrays the tedious task of bribing various officials and exposes the
roots of corruption in our country through this.Gopal soon becomes a successful and rich
man but by unfair means.
Raghav being of a revolutionist thinking protests against it and later on releases his own
newsletters by the name of Revolution 2020 which is chosen to be the title of the story.
While trying to fight against corruption, his love and his friendship come in way to
ambition.
This leads to an interesting plot creating tense situations between Raghav and Gopal and
their fight against each other and primarily their unspoken competition to get Aarti. The
end is quite interesting and criticized by a lot of readers. The author leaves it for you to
decide whether what Gopal does is good or bad and doesnt really judge him.
This story is good but it wasnt revolutionary enough to match with its title. If you read
books to pamper your literary senses, then definitely this book is not for you. This book is
really good if you like light fiction.

- Rohan Nagpal