Wrong step: What the hell is Chetan Bhagat doing on Nach Baliye?

Image courtesy: bollypedia.in
Priya Bala Priya Bala folomojo staff

Love his books or can’t bring yourself to move beyond the first few pages, you’ve got to admit Chetan Bhagat is a thought leader today, someone whose opinions are taken seriously. So, we’re trying to get our heads around what he’s hoping to achieve on Nach Baliye 7 and we’re damned if we know! Look at how we perceived him before he became a judge on that dance show.

The writer

Chetan Bhagat is the author of six blockbuster books. These include five novels—Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center, The 3 Mistakes of My Life, 2 States, Revolution 2020, the non-fiction title What Young India Wants and Half Girlfriend. His website points out that ‘Chetan’s books have remained bestsellers since their release… The New York Times called him the ‘the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history’.

Author Chetan Bhagat during the launch of his book "Half Girlfriend" at IIT, in New Delhi. (Image source: IANS)
Author Chetan Bhagat during the launch of his book “Half Girlfriend” at IIT, in New Delhi. (Image source: IANS)

Bollywood hits

Four out his five novels have been made into successful Bollywood films and the others are in process of being adapted as well.

Image courtesy: glamsham.com
Image courtesy: glamsham.com

Influencing India

According to chetanbhagat.com, Chetan quit his international investment banking career in 2009 to devote his entire time to writing and make change happen in the country. Time magazine named him amongst the ‘100 most influential people in the world’ and Fast Company, USA, listed him as one of the world’s ‘100 most creative people in business’.

Actor Irrfan Khan, author Chetan Bhagat and Anil Kapoor during a panel discussion on Hollywood film The Gentleman's Wager in Mumbai. (Image source: IANS)
Actor Irrfan Khan, author Chetan Bhagat and Anil Kapoor during a panel discussion on Hollywood film The Gentleman’s Wager in Mumbai. (Image source: IANS)

Quotable quotes

Chetan writes columns for leading English and Hindi newspapers, focusing on youth and national development issues. He is also a motivational speaker and screenplay writer. Here are some of his oft-quoted lines:

On whether women can have it all: So ladies, this Women’s Day, change just this one thing about you. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Don’t have the A+ complex. Overall, aim for a B+, or if you are a superwoman, an A- at best. Some days, you will be an amazing A+ mom, but a Bemployee as you left work early. Other days, you will be late from work and score an A+ there and the kids will have less of you, making you a B mom. But overall, if you score a B+, it is pretty good. That’s better than many others, and most of all, that is normal. Men do the same, and they don’t go to bed thinking ‘Oh I was an awful father today’ or ‘I didn’t pay my dues to my employer’. They go to bed thinking, well, let’s not go there.

(Image source: IANS)
(Image source: IANS)

So please don’t kill yourself in trying to have it all. Just be normal, admit you won’t be excellent at everything every day and smile through life.

On caste in politics: When we choose a mobile network, do we check whether Airtel or Vodafone belong to a particular caste? No, we simply choose the provider based on the best value or service. Then why do we vote for somebody simply because he belongs to the same caste as us?

On life: Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a prepaid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is jut 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s okay, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people not programmed devices.

And this one, which could well be the answer to ‘what is Chetan Bhagat doing on Nach Baliye?’ ‘The world’s most sensible person and biggest idiot both stay within us. The worst part I, you can’t tell who is who.’

Author Chetan Bhagat, actress Preity Zinta and choreographer Marzi Pestonji at the grand finale of "MasterChef India 4" in Mumbai on April 12, 2015. (Image source: IANS)
Author Chetan Bhagat, actress Preity Zinta and choreographer Marzi Pestonji at the grand finale of “MasterChef India 4″ in Mumbai on April 12, 2015. (Image source: IANS)

On Nach Baliye

The media has not been impressed by Chetan Bhagat’s appearance on Nach Baliye 7, on which he has promised to delve into the real love stories of the performing couples – a shaky premise, since all he has to go by are a short video clip and a practiced performance.

Livemint wrote, ‘He told Zinta he had been a fan of her works since he was a child. Given that both are the same age (in all probability, Bhagat is a few years older), one really wonders if all Bhagat came to do on this show was to make multiple gaffes and be ticked off by contestants and co-judges alike.’

Taking on Twinkle Khanna

Meanwhile, Twinkle Khanna took a swipe at Chetan Bhagat’s appearance on Nach Baliye:

Chetan Bhagat came back with this:

Do you think CB might write a book titled The 4 Mistakes of My Life?