Madhavan and Chetan Bhagat’s promotional campaign goes terribly wrong for Bhagat

‘Decoupled’ on Netflix is a bold, elegant and a brilliant show. It is refreshing and unique in many ways. The protagonist is played by actor Ranganathan Madhavan, yes – Maddy from ‘Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein’. Over the years, R Madhavan has stood out as an actor. Whether it be him being a proud and devout Hindu, or him not associating with trashy films – the actor has never disappointed. With ‘Decoupled’ on Netflix, Madhavan plays the role of India’s second bestselling author who is on the verge of a divorce with his wife. In the show – Chetan Bhagat makes a guest entry. Chetan Bhagat – the national author of mediocrity plays a short role of Madhavan’s rival in Decoupled.

Also read: Chetan Bhagat comes out clean on sexual harassment allegations

Chetan Bhagat, quite frankly, is the punching bag of India. Wouldn’t you agree? For several years now, India has been tolerating his mediocre books. So, when R Madhavan decided to humiliate and roast Chetan Bhagat on Twitter, the nation as a whole was delighted. People stocked up on popcorn, sat and watched as the public spat played out in its full glory, with Chetan Bhagat facing an unsparing barrage of comments from the ‘Decoupled’ actor.

Maddy takes on Bhagat:

On Monday, author Chetan Bhagat and actor Ranganathan Madhavan held back no words. Of course, Maddy was much more elegant throughout the exchange and did not really get personal with Bhagat. Chetan Bhagat, however, lost his wits. He evidently was not in control of himself, and let his anger and hurt get the better of him. Any insecure person, when attacked with weapons he is most scared of, would do the same. And nothing frightens Chetan Bhagat than a public discussion of his books and style of writing.

It all started when Chetan Bhagat posted an innocent and childish tweet on Twitter, in which he quoted a question by Netflix India which asked whether books were better or films based on them. Bhagat quoted this tweet and said, “My books, and the movies based on them.” In came R Madhavan with a simple reply, in which he said, “Hey Chetan…My bias is movies > books.”

To this tweet by Madhavan, Chetan Bhagat replied by saying, “Have you ever heard anyone ever say the movie is better than the book?” What happened next really broke the internet. It also broke Chetan Bhagat’s arrogance, while exposing him for the salty person he was and is. R Madhavan quoted this tweet by Chetan Bhagat and said, “YES! 3 Idiots.” Interestingly, while Chetan Bhagat desisted from using emojis, R Madhavan was rather flamboyant about their usage. He really enjoyed roasting Chetan Bhagat, and it showed.

For Chetan Bhagat, things got bad here on. He lost his balance and went on a spree of personal attacks against R Madhavan. To Madhavan’s sarcastic tweet, Chetan Bhagat replied saying, “You’re flaunting 3 Idiots to ME? Don’t try to preach to the choir, maybe you should go actually read my books.” Ranganathan took on Bhagat an said, “If you love books so much, why are you in my new show? Decoupled streaming only on Netflix.”

By now, it became clear to many that this exchange was scripted and part of a publicity stunt by Netflix and the creators of ‘Decoupled’. But that is not all. This was surely a publicity stunt, as confirmed by R Madhavan, but Chetan Bhagat was evidently not prepared for it, or at least did not have full knowledge of the extent to which he would be roasted.

Chetan Bhagat went on to say, “HAHAHAHAHA, what an unsubtle plug, maybe it’s just me, I prefer a Pulitzer over a pan masala branded award show.” To this, R Madhavan replied, “Well I prefer the 300 Crore Club over Bestseller.” Chetan Bhagat really went personal after this. One cannot help but appreciate Madhavan for not losing his cool. Chetan said, “Well I prefer to be known as Chetan Bhagat over being known as Farhan from that one movie.”

Also read: Chetan Bhagat predicted Coronavirus pandemic in 2004 itself, the hidden codes in his books will blow your mind

The reply to this tweet by Chetan Bhagat was absolutely savage. The actor said, “I’m not known just as Farhan. I’m also known as Manu from Tanu Weds Manu, Kartikh from Alaipayuthey, and my favourite, Maddy kyunki mein rehta hoon sab ke dil mein.”

Madhavan emerged the bigger man and put an end to the scripted spat, which spiraled out of control for Chetan Bhagat.

Chetan Bhagat’s fall from race:

We don’t really know if Chetan Bhagat ever had any grace or modicum of decency in him, but his spat with Madhavan shows how he could not take even a scripted insult being hurled at him. One would think that a bestselling author like Chetan would have thicker skin, right? But that is certainly not the case, as you have seen. Chetan Bhagat has been in the writing scene for over two decades now, but he continues to remain insecure.

Also read: Forget Chetan Bhagat potboilers, these 6 books should immediately be turned into Movies

While Madhavan enjoyed taking the author down, Bhagat really turned a victim of his own paranoia. Chetan Bhagat found close to no supporters, and everyone rallied behind the actor. Chetan Bhagat is an overrated author. His books are mediocre, his writing is banal and his style is boring. Yet, Indian youth consumed his books and made them bestsellers because they had close to no options. Now, Chetan Bhagat has saturated. His peak is over, and his books are anything but a sensation.

So, when R Madhavan began taking him down, the comments got on his nerves and he lost it completely. At the end of it all, Chetan Bhagat has earned himself the reputation of not being able to take jokes.