‘Half Girlfriend’ is the big release this week and one of the biggest factors driving the film is Chetan Bhagat. Movies based on his novels have performed very well at the box office.
His only failure was the 2008 film ‘Hello’ which was based on his novel ‘One Night @ the Call Centre’. The film didn’t do well at the box office.
The ‘3 Idiots’ controversy aside, Bhagat was officially credited for the Rajkumar Hirani blockbuster, which was based on his novel ‘5 Point Someone’.
Then came ‘Koi Po Che’, an adaptation of his novel ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’. The niche film targeted mainly at the multiplex audience, marked the acting debut of Sushant Singh Rajput. It received critical acclaim and did fairly well at the box office too.
‘2 States’ is arguably the most popular Chetan Bhagat novel and its film adaptation garnered tremendous interest. Everyone from Shah Rukh Khan to Imran Khan were rumoured to play the role that eventually went to Arjun Kapoor. Alia Bhatt played the female lead in the film that was backed by major banners like Dharma Productions, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and UTV Motion Pictures.
The audience came in big numbers on the opening day (holiday) and the film ended with lifetime collections of more than 100 crore.
Soon after the release of ‘2 States’ came the 2014 Salman Khan blockbuster ‘Kick’. The film was a remake of the Telugu movie with the same title, but the screenplay was adapted to Hindi by Bhagat, Rajat Arora, Keith Gomes and Sajid Nadiadwala. ‘Kick’ wasn’t sold on Bhagat’s name, but it did add value and got plenty of media coverage too.
3 years after the success of ‘2 States’, the writer-actor duo of Chetan and Arjun return with ‘Half Girlfriend’. Shraddha Kapoor plays the female lead and Mohit Suri of ‘Aashiqui 2’ and ‘Ek Villain’ fame directs.
Will Chetan Bhagat continue his winning streak with the adaptation of yet another popular novel ‘Half Girlfriend’? Will it give the industry only its third major success this year after ‘Jolly LLB 2’ and ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’?
Chetan Bhagat’s Filmography below:
(Note: ‘Five Point Someone’ was also adapted into a Tamil film ‘Nanban’ directed by Shankar)
| Movie | Credit | Novel | Collections | Verdict |
| Hello (2008) | Story | One Night @ the Call Center | 12.25 cr | Below Average |
| 3 Idiots (2009) | Story | Five Point Someone | 202 cr | AT Blockbuster |
| Kai Po Che (2013) | Story, Screenplay | The 3 Mistakes of My Life | 45 cr | Hit |
| 2 States (2014) | Story, Screenplay | 2 States | 102 cr | Super Hit |
| Kick (2014) | Screenplay | None | 233 cr | Blockbuster |