Yes, there’s something special about Chetan Bhagat. Love him or hate him, but you can’t ignore him. All of his five previous novels have proved to be blockbusters and each of them has been adapted for a Bollywood film. His latest, Half Girlfriend will also make its way to the 70mm screen. Bhagat does not veer from his tradition of giving the male leads names synonymous with Lord Krishna. His novels’ titles also features numbers and Half Girlfriend is no exception, which is yet another love tale packed with all the CB ingredients.

This time, it’s Madhav, a Bihari boy who falls for Riya, a rich Delhi girl. While Madhav struggles to speak in English, it is a language that naturally comes to Riya. Be it money, looks or their overall personalities, both Madhav and Riya are poles apart. But hey, there has to be something common. The fire has to be lit, after all. So, basketball it is.

Half Girlfriend has been narrated the same way as Revolution 2020, and that’s a turn-off when you are reading India’s paperback king. But the simple language, intelligent humour and the Bollywoodstyle plot does make Half Girlfriend a nice treat. Bhagat also talks about the nonsensical divide between Hindi- and English-speaking people in our country.

The problem with the book: It is extremely predictable. You read the last 30 pages only to get to a climax that you already know.

The controversy: Deti hai toh de varna kat le, is a phrase from the book that had created outrage on social media. Now that I am done reading the book, I feel that he could have easily done away without using such a crass phrase. But then Bhagat does like to get noticed.