After film, One Night rings in again: title in Hindi

“My books are originally in English but now that they’ve been translated and published in Hindi, I feel I’m finally being able to communicate to the youth across all of India,” said Bhagat who spoke Hinglish a little self-consciously at the launch at the Constitution Club last evening. He also mentioned Hello!, the film based on the second book while all eyes were actually on the chief guest for the evening, senior BJP leader L K Advani.

Sharing the stage with Advani was actress Gul Panag who stars in the film, and director Atul Agnihotri.

There was little talk of the book, the focus of the evening for Bhagat was the “politics of difference”. “What is taking place in Mumbai right now is not right. I’ve been told that as an author, I have my finger of the pulse of today’s youth. But they need opportunities, otherwise they get frustrated and then they don’t think of the country. When Advaniji was in office, one knew that things were being taken care of,” said Bhagat who further stressed on the requirement of a “middle path” and a “moderate voice” in the political circles.

“Rupa publishes both Chetan’s books and mine. I’m here, thanks to them. It is a different matter that my books are not as popular as his and lend themselves to serious conversations and not popular cinema,” said Advani. He went on to recount how he still remembered Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People that he read at 15.

“It wasn’t fiction but at that impressionable age, it taught me a lot. Fiction has an important part to play in the lives of the youth now and Chetan has done very well,” said Advani. His speech veered to the callousness with which the electronic media has been conducting itself in the light of all the news that takes place and stressed on how the print medium has held itself above sensationalism. The organisers of the evening were Prabhat Phakashan and Hindi translations of all of Bhagat’s books will hit the market shortly.