I was quite amused at how much of a hype the books of Chetan Bhagat had created, particularly the trolling aspect. People criticised how much of a bad author he is and so on.
Writing a full novel is no easy task and for someone not from the literature background, this is a commendable work.
I began my reading journey much early in my life and had gone to reading pretty difficult to comprehend classics - unabridged ones - of famous authors such as DH Lawrence, Jane Austen, Jules Verne etc. So yes, I found this novel to be too plain and simply a’timepass’ reading material. But given that in those days I still had my reading habits for pastime, I didn’t find it hard to finish the whole novel within 2 days.
I would say this is like a novel for teens who are trying to develop their reading habits and move towards novels from comic books. Some parts of the book does include slightly adult references but its not gross or vulgar. This is just a cautionary note for parents if you wish to gift the book to your teen.
In summary, it is a story about a group of co-workers each with their own problems in life and how one night changed their perspective of everything and how they moved ahead with their lives. There is ample humour, romance, sorrow and a thriller all mixed into the story. Perhaps the "masala" aspect is what led to the book being made into a movie.
Given I had read the book, I also watched the movie and it was fairly well made.
It is a very simple to read book and like I said it is just a step ahead for those moving ahead of Amar Chitra Katha books.
The author is not from a literature background and expecting him to directly write books of the likes of the 18th century classics is unfair and critics should look into the mirror before engaging in Chetan bashing.