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With My Messed Up Love Story, Chetan Bhagat hopes to offer a tale that is entertaining yet relatable, one that mirrors the complexities of modern relationships.
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00:00Write a book, seeing that you know so many of your love stories particularly have translated
00:04into successful films as well. Two States, Half Girlfriend. Do you right now keeping in mind that
00:10hey this could turn eventually into a great film? As long as I get to do really nice stories that
00:16are still relevant in 2025, that's what I want to do. If it becomes a movie, great. If it doesn't,
00:22I don't care. I don't need more money. I don't need more fame. It doesn't make me happy.
00:29You've reached that. You've seen all that. I've seen it and it was not as great as I've made it.
00:34As amazing as you thought? No, I've seen very famous people depressed,
00:39snorting drugs. In 2025, in the age of AI video content, there's a man who's still writing stories
00:46in books and making a living and doing pretty okay. I think that's a good contribution to society. We
00:52need some people like that. One of the premise really of the story is the differences between
00:58the couple and one of those is of course the age difference as well. Why did you decide to kind
01:02of focus on that? Did you see that happening a lot around you that there are more couples
01:07where age is no longer you know an issue, where age is no longer a barrier? They are confused. This
01:13is really great. I love spending time with you. Our chemistry is great. In this case in the book,
01:18they have an insane sex kind of connection which is also part of love and romance. But there is such
01:28a big age difference, such a big life experience difference. He's divorced, she's never had a
01:34boyfriend. And she's Jain, he's Punjabi. They're like it's never gonna work. And that confusion, I felt
01:42would make a great story.
01:42Hello and welcome to Booked and India Today's special series where we give you a sense of what
01:54should be on your to read list. And here joining me in the India Today Mediaflex, it's my honor to
02:00have Chetan Bhagat. And it's because of Chetan, I must admit that I actually got into the habit of
02:05reading from a very young age over your books, Chetan. So, thank you very much for joining us.
02:09Thank you. I have given a lot of friends to you. Thank you so much.
02:15No, no, I have to credit you for it. One of the perks of my job is that I get to read books much
02:21before they're actually out. So, I got to read your latest also 12 years, my messed up love story.
02:26I heard you took it to Barcelona and came it back. It's gone all over the world already.
02:30It was great because I could read it on the flight and rest of it back. A lot of people were
02:35staring at me wondering how did she get this book already. It's not available.
02:39But my messed up love story, is it really your love story?
02:45Well, it is a fictional story. It is about Saket and Payal. But I think any story that really
02:50connects has to have a piece of the author in them. It will never work. A story like this,
02:55which is trying to make people emotionally involved in the story. They usually work when
03:02the author gives a piece of their own heart in the story. Now, over time, like I've been writing
03:08for 20 years, you get experience to hide it or it's my job to hide it because it's fictionalized it.
03:16You can't really say what is me and what is not, but definitely certain aspects of the book
03:20definitely are resonating with my own life. You're not going to tell us which parts though.
03:26No, then you're asking the magician the tricks and I don't want to, but like things like,
03:32like what is Saket? He used to work in a private equity. He became a stand-up comic. He quit his job.
03:38Similar kind of thing I have done in my life. So, Mumbai, Bandra, Pali Hill. He lives,
03:43I live in Pali Hill. So, there is more parallels and don't ask me more now.
03:47Okay, at least a few you've given us. So, I'll be happy and content with that.
03:51One of the, the premise really of the story is the differences between the couple and one of those
03:57is of course the age difference as well. Why did you decide to kind of focus on that? Did you see
04:02that happening a lot around you that there are more couples where age is no longer, you know,
04:07an issue, where age is no longer a barrier? So, I, I've had a lot of people like my love stories,
04:13like two states, half girlfriend. Yeah, I loved two states. So, I've been always wanting to do more,
04:18but I was always worried that I'll end up repeating myself. Because ultimately,
04:21love story has one format, boy meets girl and then how to. So, I waited a long time,
04:28this is love story after 10 years, when I spotted a trend in society which I felt has not been covered.
04:34So, two states came in 2009, long back, movie 2014, that also 11 years. Simple, boy loves girl,
04:42they love each other, different community, but parents are not convinced, parents are not sure.
04:47If I write that now, it's not so resonating with today's world. What is resonating today? What is
04:53happening today? Situationships. That word wasn't there when two states was written. What is
04:59situationship? It's a confused relationship. Confusion. So, I thought a more interesting story
05:05rather than parents convince, what if the couple is not convinced? They are confused. This is really
05:12great. I love spending time with you. Our chemistry is great. In this case, in the book, they have an
05:18insane sex kind of connection, which is also part of love and romance. But there is such a big age
05:27difference, such a big life experience difference. He is divorced, she has never had a boyfriend,
05:33that and she is Jain, he is Punjabi. They are like, it's never going to work. And that confusion,
05:40I felt it would make a great story. Because where a lot of people will relate to the fact that,
05:44what if we are not sure? How do you know someone is the one? That is the question the book tries
05:48to answer. How do you know someone is the one? And I thought that will make a great story. So,
05:53once I had that, then I decided to do this. And I felt the age difference naturally makes the
05:59relationship messed up. But sometimes, the chemistry is just there. And what do you do?
06:06But you know, while you are speaking of a different aspect of a very traditional love story,
06:11it's also of opposites attract. It comes down to that. It could be to that.
06:15So, supposing like in this book, they have an amazing insane sex life. And I know I am talking
06:24about sex and we don't normally talk about sex so openly. Is it lust? And is the sex life good
06:33because they are actually deeply in love? Because that can happen. Because the more in love you are,
06:38the better the sex. Or they are in love because they think the sex is great.
06:46So, which is the consequence? Which is the consequence? The sex is great so we are in love?
06:51Or we are in love so the sex is great? I don't know. And these are things that never get discussed
06:56in our, at least Indian pop culture, in our movies, in our books, in our TV shows. They were never going
07:03deep into these aspects which are, these are part of everyone's life. Everybody has had these confusing
07:07relationships where something is great, something is not great. And I wanted to bring that out and
07:13hopefully people like it. Yeah. You know, the great thing about your books is,
07:17it's very relatable, right? It kind of reflects what's happening in society. I'm sure you've tried
07:21to do that with this as well. And that means relating to Gen Z. Yeah. Before this, of course,
07:28you were a man who always reached out to the millennials. Have you been able to make that
07:32transition now? Do you think the Gen Z also would be kind of relating to what you write?
07:37So, I want both the readers, right? In fact, if you notice Saket is 30. I have this reader who grew
07:44up reading Chetan Bhagat, like you said. I grew up reading Chetan Bhagat. They are a little bit older
07:48now, working. They'll relate to Saket. He's 33. I'm not saying you are. I'm just saying in that,
07:56I have to pick one age. And Payal is 21. That's classic millennial. So, I also am greedy that I
08:03want the Gen Z also to read Chetan Bhagat. So, I try to make the protagonist such that they can root
08:09for someone, like someone is relatable to their age. So, I try to do that. I mean, it's all about
08:14trying to be sensitive to people. I don't see it as younger or older. I think you have a very deep
08:21curiosity in human beings. Whenever I see a person, I try to figure out what do they want,
08:26what are they like, what were their toughest moments in life, what were their happiest moments,
08:30saddest moments. And then you figure out a person. And yeah, Gen Z has certain common traits,
08:37like these situationships, like stuff like when she's upset with Saket or she's overwhelmed,
08:43she just doesn't reply back. And Saket has no clue what's going on because he comes from a generation,
08:49he didn't even know this word ghosting. And there's ghosting going on in the book. So,
08:54all these things are new. They were not there in my earlier books. Should I text? Should I double text?
08:59And like, oh, she posted a story, but she did not reply. It creates a, I mean, today's love stories
09:05are very different. I mean, this can change your mood. It's a digital love story. Everything's online.
09:12The real. Yeah. And also like, we are, it's probably the first time like, if you have a breakup with
09:18someone, but you can see when they got married. You can see their marriage photos. Yeah. You can see
09:27where she went for honeymoon. Correct. It's crazy. It's wild. Yeah. There are no secrets, you know,
09:32everything's known. There are no secrets. And then you're with this partner and you're like,
09:35maybe I should have been that person because I, they are also, they look like they're having a
09:39better life. How do you know someone is the one? So I think that is a very Gen Z kind of trait,
09:44where there's this confusion has reached all time high. You know, it's a lot of people say it's very
09:50hard to crack or understand Gen Z. Do you think so that some define them as confused, some define them
09:56as misunderstood because very often they were deemed lazy, right up until what happened in Nepal,
10:01for example, I don't think they misunderstood. I think it's not, they are misunderstood.
10:07It's not hard. If you are non judgmental about it, if you're judgmental about it, you come from a
10:12judgmental way, you'll never understand them. Yeah, I do that. Yeah. So I constantly say Gen Z doesn't
10:20work as hard as we do. Maybe you're right. Maybe you're right also at a macro level, but there's a
10:26normal distribution. The ones that do work hard are creating big companies and changing the world.
10:31Yeah, that's true. But in general, maybe, you know, this is the first generation that is native
10:38to the internet. They grew up with it. Yeah. I still remember the pre internet era. But these guys,
10:46they are used to communicating digitally. Yeah. So just send a chat. Why come face to face and fix a
10:52meeting? Let's meet for coffee. Are I messaged? It's okay. It's not enough. It's like the junk food.
11:00It's like you're hungry. I'll just eat chips. Yeah. It fills you. But it's not satisfying.
11:07It's the same with real meetings versus this. Interesting. But they are used to this communication.
11:11They are used to conveniences, booking a cab, seeing Google Maps, everything. We had to ask,
11:19Google Maps didn't exist. We had to ask, where are you left? Where are you right? We had to interact.
11:26So they are a certain way that they're very much shielded by this digital world, which is giving
11:31them a lot of comforts. And so the moment there is discomfort, the moment there's stress, the moment
11:38there's anxiety, it's difficult. You just went on an assignment to Barcelona for an interview, came back
11:44and you had to read a book and landed and they've literally come here. Gen Z won't do that by the
11:47way. They'll be like, where is the work-life balance? Yeah. But because, I mean, I don't know,
11:52maybe it's a good thing. It's not because what is happening is you have certain stress tolerance.
11:58Your body is feeling the stress, your mind is feeling the stress, but you know, you've got to get
12:02on with it. These are both important and assignments. You don't want to miss them and you want to do this
12:07because it's not like they do. If they don't do it, they will regret it. They will feel the feeling
12:12that like a failure. They will feel that I gave up. I quit. I'm a quitter. And that's not good.
12:18This new trend I learned yesterday, bed rotting. Oh, yeah. You just sit in the bed and watch content
12:24all day. Like a couch potato. And nothing, nothing to do. And they say it's form of self-healing,
12:29but it's not. It's passive. It's not active. You're not building yourself. So I think
12:36when you live in times of comfort, you don't have resilience and you don't have resilience,
12:43you can't handle tough situations, stressful situations like overwork, bosses yelling at you.
12:48And you need some resilience. I'm not saying it's okay for people to be overworked like you
12:53right now. I'm not saying that bosses should yell. But I'm saying if you have to face a tough
12:59situation, you should have the resilience to pull through it. I'm also tired. I'm doing a lot of
13:04interviews. But it's okay. You steam ahead.
13:06I have a book release. I mean, I'm very fortunate that I get these interviews. It's a blessing.
13:13Rather than saying, oh, I'm old now. I should rest and I want to bed rot.
13:16But no. Bed rot sounds like a good idea right now for me. I'm not going to lie. Between the two
13:23characters. Well, you do need rest. I'm not denying. I'm not saying I'm not in that 90 hours a week
13:30school. But if need be, you should be able to have stress, pain tolerance in life.
13:35I agree. It teaches you lessons. Yes. And they don't. And what that creates is massive anxiety.
13:40So that's why you have anxiety crisis. It's a cycle essentially. And then they do everything to
13:44avoid anxiety, which means just don't even try. Don't do anything. Don't do anything.
13:48Yeah. And that pushes you also, I think, to a brink where you feel that, you know,
13:51what am I doing? Yeah. What is my life about?
13:54It's not like it's a better peaceful way to be. They're not in Nirvana. Yeah. Yeah.
13:58They are having severe mental health issues because they feel purposeless. A lot more than
14:02any of the other generations. Yeah. So just go out there,
14:04work, move your body, use your mind. Yeah. As simple as that. Use it or lose it.
14:09So when you were writing about and, you know, figuring out these characters in your mind,
14:15was it harder to figure out the mind of a Gen Z? Was that harder, more challenging than a Saki?
14:22It's harder because the girl was 21 and I'm a 50. I mean, even though my character is 33,
14:27I'm a 51-year-old man writing about a 33-year-old divorce guy dating a 21-year-old girl who's never
14:33had a boyfriend. If I don't do it right, like you're a girl, you read the book, you were fine with it.
14:38If I don't do it right, it'll come across as creepy. It'll come across as strange. Correct.
14:43So her reactions, the first time he touches her, the first time they have anything physical because
14:49she's never done anything like this. If it is not, if I do it from a very male gaze point of view,
14:56it can be controversial. It can be not very savoury to many readers, like female readers. Fortunately,
15:02at HarperCollins, my publisher, I have seven editors. Especially with my book, a thorough combing
15:08is done. All kinds of reviews are done. All women. All. So they all gave the tick. They didn't. Yeah,
15:14I mean, I was myself, I mean, very sensitive. I rewrote those portions, deleted portions which were
15:20too explicit. There is still a fair amount of intimate content, if I can say in the book,
15:28but it was done sensitively because it's an older guy, younger girl. So that was very hard
15:34to see, to create a young girl's reaction today to these things. That was difficult. Yes. But that
15:40was the challenge for me. Can I execute it? Yeah. But when you talk of intimate content,
15:45having to kind of scale back on it, and this is where I wonder whether Indian authors kind of have
15:51to hold themselves back because society isn't ready, apparently. I mean, imagine you were publishing
15:56the same book in any other country. Do you think you would have had to hold back? Maybe, but you know,
16:01you know, I'll tell you why I held back. One is, of course, length. I want the book to be,
16:04if the point is made that they have a great intimate life, I don't need to put an extra scene. Yeah.
16:08Even if that scene is really well written. Secondly, I'm a man. Men always love sex. So we
16:15will keep writing about it. And we don't realize that it's too much, you know, relax. Okay, we get
16:22it. They did it. And you have to do less is more. That's the writing rule of sex scene. Is that just
16:29for India is my question. Like, is it because of the Indian audience that you kind of have to? Maybe,
16:32maybe subconsciously, I know that people will not like that. That they're not accepting of it. I mean,
16:37some people will like it, but I don't want to, that's not what the book is about. At the end of
16:43the day, out of 400 pages, only 10 pages are like that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So 95, 98% of the book is
16:48not that, but maybe we have a different needle in our society of tolerance when it comes to how much sex
16:58like we can show. Although I feel you cannot write a love story without knowing what is it like in the
17:05bedroom. It's not about the sex. It's about how they talk afterwards, how they talk before. Do they
17:10joke? Yeah. Are they comfortable with each other? Does she tell her vulnerabilities to him? To me,
17:15that builds the story really well. And a relationship. Yeah. Otherwise, if you just show,
17:20okay, they go on dates. I mean, that's not really where love happens. Love also happens in the bedroom.
17:25Yeah. So when you, uh, when you wrote this book or, you know, compare it to others, uh, you constantly
17:32also, when I was speaking about relatability, look at how society is changing. I'm sure looking at the
17:38mindsets in society. Do you see a lot that's changed in how India is in how, not just the younger
17:45generation? In the metros it has, in the metros things have changed in certain pockets. In some
17:49pockets things have not changed. I mean, I don't know when the book is announced, there's a lot of people
17:54saying why this story and why the girl is so young and why the guy is so old. Instagram is full of
17:59all these posts. But there are so many movies already that talk about it. It's not a, it's not
18:03something nobody's heard of. So do you think that's outrage? They are real life couples. Yeah. Yeah.
18:07They are real life celebrity couples. Yeah. When they post pictures, people write, oh, how cute,
18:12couple goals, all that. So, I mean, we accept it. But on this? On this, somehow they feel like I'm
18:17glorifying this. I'm glorifying that older men should be with younger women or something, but I'm not. I'm,
18:23like you said, it exists. Yeah. It's an aspect which exists. It's fairly common. It's not the norm,
18:29but that's why it's messed up. I'm calling it messed up. Yeah. Because it is messed up.
18:35But, uh, and the reason I ask you about societal changes is, do you think that something like this
18:40about 10 years ago would have been accepted versus now? Yes, there's outrage, but I think that there's a
18:45lot of acceptability also. You're right. That's a good point. I like definitely like when I wrote like a
18:48five point someone or two states, I couldn't have written this. Yeah. People are far more tolerant
18:53today. Hmm. And that's what Westernization, social media. I think, yeah, I think some Western
18:59influences, some modern values have come. People are more tolerant. Uh, like premarital sex is no big
19:06deal. I remember my first few books when I'd show people say, but they are engaging in premarital sex.
19:12Like it was a thing. Yeah. Or like, so you mean to say this girl is not a virgin. Like, you know,
19:18if you remember Dilse movie. Yeah. You remember that classic Preeti Zinta dialogue? Yeah. Are you a
19:24virgin? It used to be a thing then. Correct. And an acceptance. When was the last time you heard the
19:28word virgin? Yeah. In recent times. No, like, what the hell does it even mean? I only hear extra virgin
19:33olive oil, but I mean, there is no like thing. And so it's society changes, values change. Yeah. And
19:42we finally accept that there is, it's no big deal. You know, if people are consensual and they have
19:47relationships, they're going to get intimate. I mean, that's just the way things happen.
19:52When you, uh, write a book seeing that, you know, so many of your love stories particularly have
19:57translated into successful films as well. Two States, Half Girlfriend.
20:02Do you right now keeping in mind that, hey, this could turn eventually into a great film?
20:07No. And I deliberately don't. Because this could make for a great film.
20:10If it becomes, it's awesome. But like my last book was called 11 rules for life. It was a
20:15motivational book. Yeah. If there's zero chance of it getting converted to a movie,
20:20but then I, should I have not have written it? I wanted to write it. I have realized that I've had
20:25a lot of Bollywood adaptations and there's a lot of work involved in getting it done.
20:28Yeah. And it takes two, three years of my life. But what I enjoy most is taking on new topics,
20:36new characters, blank piece of paper, creating something new. Genesis. That is what my unique
20:41gift is getting things adapted. I'll send the book out. If someone wants to make it and they're a good
20:47team, I'll let them make it. But I will not break my head over it. I'm not going to have tea at the
20:52producer's house every day till six months. So that one day he agrees. Because I, it's not me.
20:58You're a writer first. Now I realize it. I didn't earlier. I just wanted to be big and my brand and
21:04everybody should know me. But I've had a lot of introspection last few years. I'm totally changed
21:10as a person. I did Vipassana this year. And I said, I, who am I? And I left my banking job to be a
21:16writer. Yeah. Not to be producer or not to be most famous man in the world. So as long as I get to do
21:23really nice stories that are still relevant in 2025, that's what I want to do. If it becomes a movie,
21:29great. If it doesn't, I don't care. I mean, it's my creative satisfaction is done by just creating
21:36this. What triggered that mindset change though? Was it a moment? Was it, you know, realizing that
21:41I'm older and life is finite. I don't have that much time left. I mean, we have maybe just do what
21:46you love that kind of. Yeah, I don't have time to waste hanging around Bollywood circles, attending
21:50parties, hoping somebody will sign me. It's tiresome, I'm sure. If that was my passion,
21:56yes, I could have done it, but it's not. The only reason I would do it is because people said,
21:59when is the picture made? And I want to make people happy. And I want to tell people,
22:03yeah, picture also made. But dude, read the book. You don't want to read the book, move on. It's okay.
22:10I wrote the book. I wrote the book because it gave me joy and enough people read it. So enough,
22:15job is done. If you don't have it, it's okay. But so in that way, I realized that I'm chasing the wrong
22:20things. I don't need more money. I don't need more fame. It doesn't make me happy.
22:26You've reached that. You've seen all that. Seen it and it was not as great as I've made.
22:31As amazing as you thought? No, I've seen very famous people, depressed,
22:36smorting drugs. I mean, for Gen Z, we kind of decoded that it's…
22:39Because it's not the answer. The answer doesn't come in these external things of who has the most
22:44money, who has the most fame. The answer comes from within you. What is your purpose in this world?
22:50And you have to be absolutely honest with yourself. I mean, it's not just Bollywood. I mean, my college,
22:55my friends have legit, some of them are legit billionaires. They've opened these startups,
23:01everyday names you hear of. A lot of them are from IIT Delhi, my college. And I used to feel
23:07that it's not adequate. We've done it. We've done it. We've done it. We've done it. But this is what I'm
23:14meant to do. This is what God sent me here for. In 2025, in the age of AI, video content, there's a man
23:22who is still writing stories in books and making a living and doing pretty okay. I think that's a good
23:28contribution to society. We need some people like that. Not everybody should be a fundraiser,
23:34series B, 2 million valuation. And also those people are not happy. I've seen billionaires on
23:42antidepressants. And I feel like- Because the idea is always money can buy you everything.
23:48Yeah, it can't. It can't. I feel like slapping them. You have so much money. How can you be sad?
23:54What is wasting money on you? Send it the other way.
23:57I'll give it to you. But because they are chasing the wrong things. It was not what he was in for.
24:04Now he's in that trap. Now he's in that trap. Now he's a billionaire. Two money. Oh,
24:06that's five people. Why don't you have five people? It's like men especially do this.
24:13Men have this tendency that mine is bigger than yours. Comparing constantly. Competitive.
24:18My sand pile is the biggest. In the end, when we die, the sand pile will be measured. And who
24:25has the biggest sand pile which is the biggest money it wins. Are you stupid? That's not how it
24:30works. Yeah. This is the journey. It just ends. So you have to use your time doing things you love
24:37doing it. No, and I feel writers don't ever become irrelevant. I mean, if you keep your content fresh,
24:42you keep it relevant, you keep, you know- Yeah. Even if it does. Shifting generationally.
24:47Akshita, even if this fame totally goes away. Today I'm prepared. I wasn't five years back. Everything was this.
24:53Everything was my career. Book doesn't do well. I'll feel depressed. I have a life. I moved out.
24:59I live. I have my friends. I'll always be relevant to my friends. I'll always be relevant to my kids.
25:04But I ask that again then, what changed for you personally that you felt that look-
25:08I think we should grow internally as well as externally. Most people spend most of the time
25:13growing their career. But with age, you should also work in, you have to work through your traumas.
25:19You have to work through your... Maybe my father didn't like love me enough and I wanted to show
25:24him that I'm good enough for the world. And I'm running and running. But it's like I'm running,
25:29like if you have a few rats and the rat with the tail on fire, you'll run the fastest.
25:35Yeah. But at the end of the day, you're just a rat with the tail on fire.
25:39And then one day you realize, dude, this is why I'm running. Not because I want to. I'm not even
25:44running the right race. So I think that I'm really fortunate that I had that awakening and I want to
25:51bring that along with my career. So this could go away. Fame goes away. And I've seen depressed
25:57actors. I don't know if you in Bollywood, I've seen actors who used to be big hits, then they're not
26:01hits. They disappear. And then they go to a restaurant and people don't recognize them
26:05and now they don't enjoy the meal because they're sad nobody came. How stupid and dumb is that?
26:10Yeah. You're laying your happiness in the arms of this fickle thing called fame. So I think
26:18I'm fortunate. I'm out of it. And yeah, age teaches you. You'll also grow, mature,
26:25when you grow, you're too young right now. Not being money minded.
26:28Not just money. Yeah. I mean, not just realizing, having a deeper connection with yourself.
26:33Yeah. To like to know what is it that you want to do.
26:37Not what the world or society expects you to do.
26:40And for you, you know, you found your place. You say very clearly that writing is what I love to do
26:47and that's what I'll continue to do. When I read this book, it reminded me of all the other Chetan
26:53Bhagat novels that I read. But I also wanted to understand from you because like I said,
26:57I've grown up on so many of your books. We've all changed. I still enjoy your books,
27:02which is a great thing. How have you, you think evolved as a writer in the last, let's say 12 years?
27:10I think my flow is much better. The other books people still remember and they were nice.
27:17But the flow of writing, like when you read the book, this one reads effortlessly.
27:22It seamlessly keeps moving. It's just like butter. It's very smooth.
27:25Does it take you also a lesser amount of time to kind of work on these books?
27:28A little bit less, but not too much less. Which is? Like a year still.
27:34But this time I moved to Dubai to write this book. I just like, I was alone. I live alone
27:39because there's a book called Deep Work I read. Fantastic book which talks about how the most
27:45satisfying thing in life comes when you're working on something very deep, very deep project.
27:49So for that, you need to be alone and isolated. And I took that step and I think the writing has a flow
27:57and I have a grip on the story and narrative which I didn't have as well. So I think the writing has
28:03improved and I'm able to handle more difficult topics like age gap. I mean, there is no way 20
28:09years back I could have handled this story. I would have messed it up. But here I can sensitively handle
28:14it and like a divorced guy as your hero, you know, like it's a risk. It's unconventional. It's unconventional.
28:20People in India have a lot of stigma with divorce and now your hero is only divorced. So, you know.
28:26But you know, I'd have figured that the process is a little different. That it wasn't you sitting
28:30alone but rather mingling with as many people to kind of understand mindsets.
28:34Initially, yes. Not during the writing but yes, for research. Like I hang out with a lot of stand-up
28:38comics. Okay. Because he's a stand-up comic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So to understand their lifestyle.
28:42They basically write. Yeah. They have to write a lot of material. Yeah. And they have to perform.
28:47They're always nervous. They're always seeing,
28:49a lot of material. Yeah. Yeah. But that's interesting. So you've taken a year to write
28:58this book. It's amazing. I'll tell our viewers direct that I enjoyed it. Thank you. To me,
29:04it's classic Chetan Bhagat which I enjoyed but for everyone now who will be grabbing this book,
29:10reading it, what do you want people to take away? I want them to believe in love.
29:16Whatever it looks like. And I want them to believe that you deserve better than our situationship.
29:24You want that word to go away? I think at least in the world of fiction, love should work out.
29:29You know, Payal should love sake. I think in real life too. And that gives us hope. Yeah. That you can
29:34find someone who will love you for time and time and you mean something to them and yeah. I mean,
29:41I don't want to reveal the story but like they realize what they mean to each other and it's a
29:46happy ending. I can tell you now and I want people to start believing in that, that it will happen for
29:53them. Yeah. So you want it to move from books into real life as well. Yeah. I think I'm true romantic
30:00at heart and I want people to believe in love and romance and happiness. And I think this is too
30:06much dark content. There's also many thrillers and gangsters and mob land. I love all that. We all love
30:12but it's somewhere down the line. It forces us to be in the land of violence. But there should be
30:19funny books and funny movies and love. Totally. What happened to rom-coms? I mean, we don't need
30:25them anymore. Of course, society needs rom-coms. Yeah. No, so many of them still do well. Like
30:30the summer I turned pretty. I remember such a craze right now. Yeah. But Indian content is not there.
30:34I agree. Yeah. Yeah. It's become full thrillers and violence. Yeah. And like, you know, village badlands
30:40and shootings. We need some more. I hope it comes through because I hope people also take that lesson,
30:47take that as one of the biggest takeaways that you can learn, learn to love irrespective. Yeah.
30:52The differences shouldn't matter. Opposites attract, like I said. Thank you very much,
30:56Chetan, for joining us here in the studios. All the very best for your book. I enjoyed reading it.
31:00Thank you. I enjoyed talking to you. Thank you.
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