Aadisht has a brutal review of One night @ the call center.
It is Kaizad Gustad all over again. Write a mediocre first novel (or make a mediocre first movie). People go ga ga over it. You get encouraged, and your second work ends up as something so bad that people wonder what went wrong. I’ve said this before and I will say it again. Bad novelists (and film-makers) are not born. It is society that makes them this way. It is your toleration of mediocrity that makes them this way.
Agree 100%. The best example of worship of mediocrity: Arundhati Roy. Even the lady knows her run of luck would come to an end if she should attempt a second work of fiction.
Same pinch !! I wrote here
One night @ call center: Not bad. But FPS was a wonder. The writer is not bad but I can only conclude like this: real life experiences always make a better story rather than the researched one. Consciously trying to create another FPS is difficult to work out. Which is why everytime I see DCH I just get up and bow to Farhan. It is not only impossible to expect another gem from him but also unfair. Same with Chetan Bhagat.
You know what, I also believe that call center book was pathetic. I did try to write about it : http://theunknownindian.blogspot.com/2005/11/zero-point-call-center.html
But the argument against mediocre writing/movies holds no water. Mediocrity and sensationalism is the thing of today – why are there so many viewers from the Kyonki Wonki Saans Ki Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki type serials? Why ,pray, do people read the slimes of India? Or eat at McDonalds? Or even, fly Air Deccan?
The answer lies in the love of mediocrity. People just adore it. The ability to not have to think before doing something – reading, viewing or figuring out spoon/fork. The freedom to criticise something without refrain: for if it’s mediocre no one will defend it.
Defenses like “we’re a mass airline” and “we are a worldwide food chain, over 362 trillion burgers sold and counting” are countering the wrong argument.
We need mediocre stuff for another reason too – it provides for a great laugh if you have the right mindset. I think I expected too much of a Chetan Bhagat, for I still love to laugh at the banal humour of a Govinda movie.
One more important point: What is not mediocre is not universally loved. I can’t handle a Vikram Seth. I puke at the thought of another Arundhati Roy book. Or Stephen King’s “Strand”. All these are books that are absolutely adored by someone somewhere, who will be willing to have the author’s baby. But they’re trash to me. So being literarily correct is not a good thing – the less mediocre you are, the more viciously you get loved or hated. You’re just lucky if it’s the former.
Am I saying we should tolerate mediocrity? Maybe. I think it’s unavoidable that mediocrity exists and will continue to do so. I think fighting it is a losing battle. I think mediocrity is important, like the bacteria in your stomach. I think we all need a once-a-month dose of Takeshi’s castle.
– Deepak
Who decides what is mediocre?
I did like his book Five Point Someone. What is nice about Chetan Bhagat’s writing is that he doesn’t have a background in writing professionally, there is a rawness to his writing that is refreshing and different. Anyways, that is just my ‘uneducated opinion’. 🙂 But then again I’m a guy who found most of Amitav Ghosh boring (Except for The Hungry tide), what do I know huh?
RR, I’m curious, have you read Arundhati Roy’s books?
I don’t think CB is great or anything but by attacking CB, and saying that he is mediocre, his readers are mediocre – you are trying to say “I’m smart. I know better.”
Somehow, you have this high opinion of your own writing abilities and when the world doesn’t seem to care – it is a mediocre world. Coolio.
CB is creating waves, and deep down you know it is unstoppable. Sorry dude. He won. You got the blog.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/books/antiamerican-bestsellers-big-call/2006/01/01/1136050349243.html
Don’t worry, you’ll get over your envy one day. By they way are you the guy who did the TOI review of ON@TCC (that was also a Ravi Rao).
I agree to the fact that ON@TCC is crap. But I disagree with you labelling FPS as mediocre. It got good reviews and loads of people (including me) loved it. Just because you dont like it doesn’t mean it is bad.
Have read FPS, and I found it likeable, but not great. I suppose there is something about ‘coming of age’ movies and books that people take to, even if the quality isn’t top-notch. Besides, I identified with FPS because I share the background of the protagonists. Haven’t read the second one, but if people don’t like it, then they don’t have to read it. It may be ‘mediocre’, but hey, Harry Potter is mediocre (in terms of written style)if you compare it to Lord of the Rings. Doesn’t stop millions of people from reading it and liking it! To each his own, basically. Let the market decide. If his books don’t sell, that will be a disincentive for him to write.
Arjun,
Who are you?
I think FPS sucked. But who decides what mediocre? I don’t like this blog and I know a lot of people who don’t. But there are obviously people who like it and think it’s good.
Aniruddh Gupta says above,”To each his own, basically. Let the market decide. If his books don’t sell, that will be a disincentive for him to write.” Unfortunately, one has to agree. Most books that top the best-seller lists are crap. In fact, I don’t trust “prestigious prizes” like the Booker either. But what can one do?
But I don’t whether one’s books not selling is a disincentive to write. A lot of good writers don’t write for money. Or at least, it isn’t very important to them. Bhagat, I think, does write for money.
Anirudh, you said “crap”.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Just wanted to know if you took permission from whoever you’re supposed to take permission from before calling something “crap”, because I’ve got into trouble for calling something “mediocre” without proper authority.
Haha! No I haven’t taken permission. I will. 🙂
“Bad novelists (and film-makers) are not born. It is society that makes them this way”
Shouldn’t this be market, to be precise market comprising of people with surplus money and low – tastes.
Regards
Well, yes.
I tried hard. But everytime I leave a comment asking him for permission, he deletes it saying it’s in “bad taste”.
Bad novelists (and film-makers) are not born. It is society that makes them this way. It is your toleration of mediocrity that makes them this way.
A very true point.
It’s we who encourage mediocrity.
OK, trendy comments. Mediocre even. But, so what if it was an unrealized, researched look at one night? The message of this book was personal, asking each person to look in, realize we are all balancing on little thin wires. Sappy as it may have been to portray changing one’s life in this way he was asking us to do just that. Look within, don’t take easy path, deal with life in honor and, sometimes, life answers back with honor. That’s the chance that makes all the crap worth taking. That’s what he was saying. Don’t miss it, take the chance, build a better world. I liked it, but it was soft in some areas. I’ll read the next one too. Here we have someone developing into something extraordinary and I want to watch it happen.