RAG Demo

Tag: Bollywood adaptation

  • 2 States

    Krish Malhotra and Ananya Swaminathan meet in the mess at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and fall in love over study sessions and late-night conversations. By graduation they want to marry, but they decide to do it properly: both families must agree, which proves harder than any entrance exam.

    Krish takes a bank job in Chennai to charm Ananya's reserved, conservative parents, tutoring her brother and arranging a concert for her father's company. Ananya, in turn, faces Krish's loud Punjabi relatives and his mother's open suspicion of South Indians, while Krish deals with his strained relationship with his father.

    Partly based on Chetan Bhagat's own marriage, the novel is a light comedy about regional stereotypes, food, language and family politics in modern India. It became a 2014 Hindi film starring Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Short chapters, wisecracking narration and family set pieces keep it moving, making it an easy holiday read.

    Book details

    AuthorChetan Bhagat
    First published2009
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreRomance
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)269
    SettingIIM Ahmedabad, Chennai and Delhi, 2000s

    Themes

    • Inter-community marriage
    • Cultural stereotypes
    • Family approval
    • Parents and children

    Who should read it

    Readers wanting a breezy romantic comedy about a north-south Indian love story.

  • The Guide

    Raju, recently released from prison, takes shelter in a ruined temple by a river near a village called Mangala. When a villager mistakes him for a sage, Raju finds it easier to accept the role than to explain himself, and soon people bring him food, problems and reverence. The novel alternates between this present and Raju's account of how he got here.

    Years earlier Raju ran a shop at Malgudi railway station and became a popular guide for tourists. One of his clients was Marco, a cold archaeologist, and his wife Rosie, a gifted dancer whose husband despises her art. Raju's involvement with Rosie, and his management of her career as a star performer named Nalini, led him into vanity, debt and eventually crime.

    Narayan writes with typical lightness, but the book poses serious questions about sincerity, performance and whether a role played long enough becomes real. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960, the first for an English-language novel, and inspired the 1965 Dev Anand film Guide.

    Book details

    AuthorR. K. Narayan
    First published1958
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreClassic
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)220
    SettingMalgudi and the village of Mangala, South India, mid-20th century
    AwardsSahitya Akademi Award 1960

    Themes

    • Identity and performance
    • Redemption
    • Art and marriage
    • Faith
    • Self-deception

    Who should read it

    Readers who like gently ironic stories about reinvention and the line between faith and fraud.