Take a bit of “Dil Chahta Hai” mix it up with some “Catcher in the Rye” kind stuff about being in a fake world, add Boy-Meets-Girl-But-Papa-Doesn’t-Approve stuff , add a mentor character who is sympathetic and another character who is villain incarnate, put some dope on college stuff, boozing, ragging. And you get 5 Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat.
The novel gets its title from the GPA system used in IIT, to rank students. Students who get five points are considered average, and don’t usually get the choice job offers. The novel centers primarily around 3 close buddies at IIT, Delhi who are totally different.
Ryan Oberoi- Son of rich parents, feels lonely and neglected. Hates the grading system at IIT, has his own views on life. Wants to discover something pathbreaking, and he feels that the IIT system doesn’t allow it. Feels that there is a life beyond books, grades and studies.
Alok Gupta- Comes from a lower middle class family. His father is crippled due to an accident, his mother supports the family as a teacher and he has a sister to be married off. Sentimental and emotional, he is at IIT, only because he can get a good job, and support his family.
Hari Kumar- The novel’s protagonist, and the narrator, he acts as a sort of balance between Ryan and Alok. He troubleshoots whenever fights break out, but he himself seems confused in life. Has a problem expressing himself, but at a critical moment finds the strength to speak out.
The book starts off in a flashback mode, with Alok being admitted to hospital and Hari reminiscing about what happened. Hari, Ryan and Alok, join IIT, Delhi at same time, are room mates, and they become thick friends after Ryan stands up for them during a ragging session. Though all 3 of them have diametrically different views in life, they bond together, and are referred to as Five Pointers after they end up in bottom of the class. They hate the topper Venkat, who they think is more of a robot than a human being. Hari meanwhile gets into a romance with Neha, daughter of the dreaded Professor Cherian, a tyrant on the campus. Neha herself has a painful past reliving memories of her dead brother, Sameer, and a father who is a disciplinarian. In contrast to Prof Cherian, there is the US returned Prof Veera who encourages his students to think in a different way. He becomes the mentor to the 3 friends, and also supports them during a critical time. As Hari and Neha come closer, he also finds that their grades are dropping, and so he along with Alok and Ryan hit on a plan to steal the papers.
Does their plan succeed? Does Hari and Neha’s romance get fulfilled? Why does Alok try to commit suicide? Is Ryan able to realize his dreams? What was the reason behind Sameer’s death? Well the novel does provide most of the answers.
Chetan Bhagat tried to construct a novel with the main theme of the hero’s growing up, along with a commentary about the rigid system of IIT. And to make it more appealing, he uses simple language, which even an ordinary reader can understand. That’s where I guess the novel has been more successful. But is it one of the best novels, I beg to differ a lot. Chetan had a wonderful theme to work on, but I am afraid to say he really did not do justice to the theme.
Ok first the good points of the novel
The characters are wonderfully developed, and all of us can identify with Hari, Alok, Ryan.
The descriptions of college life, bunking, roof top booze parties, grading has been done well, and it is sure to make readers indulge in a nostalgia trip.
The way he uses humor while describing the travails of Alok’s family will surely draw a chuckle.
One of the best parts is when Prof Cherian gives a speech admitting he had been wrong, and we suddenly discover its only a dream.
Also the technique where he gives the view points of Alok, Ryan, Neha is well done. This was done by Jeffrey Archer previously in As the Crow Flies, where he presented the story through different characters.
The scenes between the friends, their fights, their misunderstanding are depicted in an excellent manner.
But like a curate’s egg there are many things which prevent this from becoming a class act.
The romance between Hari and Neha seems straight out of a Bollywood movie. Neha’s strict dad who repents later coming out as a book version of Amrish Puri. Chetan tries to make it interesting by using the Men are from mars, women are from Venus stuff, but sorry to say the romance simply falls flat.
The manner in which the friends are caught while trying to steal seems so dumb. I mean no sensible guy on earth would make a call to his home, from the intercom, knowing well it would be tracked.
The narrator’s character is not at well defined, and that is the biggest weak link. You can understand Ryan and Alok, but you are confused about what the narrator is like. He doesn’t seem to have an identity of his own, he always tags along with Ryan. He has a problem speaking out his views, but other than a single line by Ryan, speaking something about a strict Colonel dad, we really don’t understand that problem.
One more thing many have called it dark, witty and Indian version of Catcher in the Rye. FPS is neither of those. That’s because Catcher remains one of my favorite novels, and I nearly fell of when I heard this as one. Catcher in the Rye has a character totally confused about life, it’s a novel about counter culture, it’s a novel of rebellion. Chetan tries hard to make this novel look like some sort of revolt against the system, but in the end it just ends up like a feel good Bollywood movie. So my advice is read this novel as it is, enjoy it, but if you are thinking this as some sort of counter culture rebel stuff, forget it, its not even close to that.
Yes Five Point Something is a good novel, immensely enjoyable and readable, but nothing more than that. Please don’t compare this with cult classics like Catcher in the Rye and Catch 22. Chetan Bhagat is as far removed from J.D.Salinger as Karan Johar is from Quentin Tarantino.