Chetan Bhagat vs Vidhu Vinod Chopra: Why the Author is Right in Accusing the Producer for Not Giving Him Due Credit for Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots! Here’s a Recap of the Controversy!

Chetan Bhagat, the author of some very popular bestsellers, has kicked a hornet's nest with some of his recent tweets. What began as a warning to 'critics' to be sensible to Sushant Singh Rajput's last release - Dil Bechara - later became a revisit of an old wound when it came to his second experience with Bollywood. While reacting to Anupama Chopra's tweet, Bhagat wrote, "Ma'am, when your husband publicly bullied me, shamelessly collected all the best story awards, tried denying me credit for my story and drove me close to suicide, and you just watched, where was your discourse?" Chetan Bhagat Alleges Vidhu Vinod Chopra Drove Him 'Close to Suicide' By Trying To Discredit Him From 3 Idiots (View Tweet).

The incident he was referring to happened during the release of 3 Idiots. The movie was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is critic Anupama Chopra's husband, and was directed by Rajkumar Hirani. Starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the lead, 3 Idiots was a big blockbuster in 2009 when it was released. It is still ranked as one of the best comedies produced in Hindi cinema.

The Controversy

During the pre-release chatter, it was clearly defined that 3 Idiots was based on Chetan Bhagat's best-selling novel, Five Point Someone. However, this aspect was downplayed when the film came out, with the author himself miffed about not giving him due credit for the inspiration. To understand more about the controversy, we need to know more about the book.

Five Point Someone

The novel was Chetan Bhagat's first book, based on his own experiences while studying in IIT. The book follows the misadventures of three friends - Hari, Ryan and Alok - who see themselves as misfits in the IIT grading system. Hari is both the protagonist and the narrator, and also the stand-in for Bhagat himself. Ryan is the one with a rebellious attitude, whose brilliance isn't being gauged by the grading system, while Alok, who comes from a meagre household, wants to be a studious type. There is also Neha, the daughter of a professor they hate, on whom Hari had developed a crush on.

Five Point Someone, which came out in 2004, was a runaway hit, establishing Bhagat as a youth writer. Critics didn't take much  of a liking, but the book turned out to be a bestseller. Many of the writer's ardent fans still consider Five Point Someone as his best book. Chetan Bhagat Birthday Special: From Salman Khan’s Hello to Aamir Khan’s 3 Idiots, Ranking All Film Adaptations of Author’s Books From Worst to Best.

Comparing Five Point Someone to 3 Idiots

As someone who has read Five Point Someone and watched 3 Idiots, I can say they are very different from each other. And even if it may affront the movie's die-hard fans, I am of the opinion that the book was much better. However, you cannot ignore the commonalities between the two.

Yes, the film is adapted by Abhijat Joshi and Hirani, giving a different direction and adding more elements. For one, the movie is set in an engineering college instead of IIT. Hari, Ryan and Alok become Farhan, Rancho and Raju respectively. Instead of Farhan (who continues to be the narrator), Rancho is the protagonist and he also gets to woo the professor's daughter. Omi Vaidya's character Chatur, who was a minor character in the book, gets a major role and is pitched as the antagonist. The climax of the boys' college adventures, involving a makeshift baby delivery, isn't there in the book, and so is the flashfoward portions involving the mystery of Rancho's whereabouts.

But there is no denying that the framework for 3 Idiots is the same as Five Point Someone, while also borrowing certain other elements, even if they aren't played the same way as in the book. Like for example, the whole 'machine' definition scene in the movie. is played in reverse in the book. Ryan gives the same answer as Chatur in the book, and is chided for it by the professor. Like in the book, Raju tries to commit suicide, but he does so by jumping from the Dean's room, instead of the water tank, which is their hangout place. Raju's character is the most similar to that of Alok in the book, including his temporary breakup with his friends and later reuniting with them after they help take his sick father to the hospital.

Was Chetan Bhagat Given Credit In The Movie?

Chetan Bhagat had himself said in an old interview that he wasn't involved in the scripting of the film, as he was working in Hong Kong then. As per the makers, the contract with the writer involved remuneration and mention the writer in the credits section.

Did that happen?

Oh, yes. But we really can understand why Chetan Bhagat was so miffed about it. The part 'Based on the novel Five Point Someone by Chetan Bhagat' came only in the closing credits, that too in fine print, and it came below the cast credits, media consultant, action director, stills and project team. See the screenshot of the same below:

What infuriated the author even further was the 'story' was credited to Abhijat Joshi and Hirani, with no mention of Bhagat, in the opening credits. You can see that below:

Even Bhagat won't deny that he doesn't deserve a credit for 'Screenplay', but not getting one for 'Story' is an altogether different issue. To add insult to injury, 3 Idiots won the Best Story Award at Filmfare, and IIFA the following year, which Joshi and Hirani taking the honours. Something Bhagat mentions in his tweet last evening,

Who's Right, Who's Wrong?

Bhagat had continued to pursue the controversy for so many years, and we don't blame him for doing so. In a media interaction during 3 Idiots post-release promotions, when Chopra was asked about this, he flew into a rage, something he regretted later.

Hirani, speaking on this controversy, had said in 2013, "According to the contract, it clearly says that Chetan will be given credit in the rolling credit, which comes at the end of the film. He is lying when he says that his name comes after the junior artists, his name is after the main artists of the movie." Which isn't exactly right, as you can see in the screenshot we shared a few paras before. Even Aamir Khan had supported Hirani then, claiming that the author is raking controversy for "cheap publicity".

Bhagat, reacting to the above statement, said, "They abused the contract and thought that they can hide the credit. They made a new credit that is of story, which gives the wrong impression that the original story was written by Abhijat and Hirani but it is my story they adapted from. They should have mentioned novel’s name in ‘Adapted By’ or they should have mentioned my name in the story credit."

Our Thoughts

We don't know the specifics of the contract drawn between VVC Films and Chetan Bhagat, but there is something ethically wrong that happened here. It doesn't matter if Joshi and Hirani changed 3 Idiots to keep it very different from Five Point Someone, but the skeleton remains the same. 3 Idiots came out at a time, when Bhagat's novels were a rage, and his fans were excited about the movie adaptation of his first novel, which added to the curiosity factor for the movie. So you really can't deny the influence of the book in the film's promotions, not to mention also in the narrative. Bhagat deserved better than the kind of credit he got with 3 Idiots.

Look at Hollywood. For years, they haven't shied away from mentioning the adaptations on which their movies are based on. Even if the films are very different from the source material, the credit is clearly mentioned. For example, David Fincher's Fight Club, Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining - all iconic movies - are clearly different from their source novels, but they flaunt the inspiration clearly in the credits. It is another matter that Hollywood doesn't have a 'Best Story' award, instead just relying on 'Best Original Screenplay' and 'Best Adapted Screenplay'.

Watch the Opening Credits of The Shining:

What happened to Chetan Bhagat in lieu with 3 Idiots is something Bollywood has often been accused of every now and then - the step-motherly treatment it has meted out to the writers, never given them due credit. The author has been more involved in the future adaptations of his work, like in Kai Po Che and Half Girlfriend (also marks his debut as a producer), but he is still hurt by what happened with 3 Idiots, clearly defined by his recent tweets. And can we blame him for feeling so?

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2020 03:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).