Monday, January 4, 2010

The case of 3 Idiots, 2 writers and 1 bad contract


Firstly its been quite sometime since I last blogged. Been real busy with lot of things happening but my heart was always thinking of blogging. Shall try and be more regular from now on.

Back to the current topic: We have all seen the mudslinging happening over the last couple of days over the story of 3 idiots between 3 idiots (Aamir, Raju, Vidhu) and Chetan Bhagat.



Facts

1. The 3 idiots bought the book from Bhagat and promised him "rolling credits" in the contract on which they signed over two years back
2. Producer paid Bhagat a lump sum amount before the movie released
3. Bhagat gets in a few more best-sellers in between
4. "Hello" based on Bhagat's "One Night at a Call centre" sinks at the box office without a trace
5. "Chetan Blocks" on twitter fiasco dents Chetan's credibility as a responsible celebrity.
6. "3 Idiots" is a box-office blockbuster breaking all records

Killer Fact

1. Movie is about 40% of the book and not 2-5% as claimed by Raju Hirani but going by his original "Munnabhai M.B.B.S" I know from where he gets his math wrong !

Putting all the media reports, interviews, the movie and the book in perspective, this proves the famous theory that "Success is relative". When you succeed everyone wants to be your relative (i.e. wants credit)

Going my "Marslow's hierarchy of Needs" all of us feel the need to be seen in spotlight. Bhagat is no different. I wonder if the movie would have bombed, would he still have cried hoarse like this ? The contract is very clear and the 3 idiots have delivered on whatever they promised so I dont fault them. But I do get a feeling that they pulled a fast one on him. But being a writer who has written best-sellers, would he not have had his lawyers read through the fine print of his contracts before committing a blunder of this size. So the reason is deeper than we think it is !

3 Possible Reason(s)

1. Mommy forgot to change his diapers on the day of the contract so our man was so uncomfortable that he signed it in a hurry without bothering about the fine print
2. Chetan lost his doggy somewhere. So to save on the "Lost and Found" column fees he decided to use "3 Idiots" to get his photu in the paper for free.
3. Chetan went to the Bhindi Bazaar and nobody knew him. So he didn't get the celebrity discount which Aamir got. During inflationary times that can hurt !

3 Things Chetan must do

1. Block Vidhu, Aamir and Raju on Twitter
2. Copy Raju's "Munnabhai" script and make it into a book
3. Do bedtime reading of "Five Point Someone" to Aamir

3 Prerajulisation Trivia

1. What is the difference between a leech and Chetan Bhagat ?
A: Nothing much only that Bhagat sucks more !

2. Who among the four is a mathematically challenged ?
A: Raju Hirani (for precisely miscalculating that the movie is just 2-5% of the book)

3. In "3 Idiots" who could have been a better VIRUS than Boman Irani?
A: Vidhu (did you see how he said "Shut up" to the journo ..... masterji style)

P.S: Mr. Chetan Bhagat - Please don't block me on Twitter !

4 comments:

vinayspg said...

Hi Vijeth,

Nice to hv u back to blogging.

And u hv done a gr8 analysis of the situation n i feel the same too.

"SUCCESS IS RELATIVE"

Also, ATB for rest of your PG :)

amod said...

Nice Blog!!

I liked the style in which u wrote "3 Possible Reason(s)" and "3 Prerajulisation Trivia"

Unknown said...

Bullshit !!! As I have always known this guy to be a poseur in my college who got into ISB by means of some fake certificates !!!!


Nothing unexpected as I believe !!!

Newsbird said...

Hey Common,
He is the original author and we should understand how he feels. What do you do if some one steal your work and put their name?

In hello movie they have put his name and Book at the opening credit.

Chetan is not asking for more money. What he pissed off is the mathematical calculation of Raju saying only 2-5% and claimed it as a original story.

Even I've read many news articles before release of 3 idiots that raju claiming it as a original story loosely inspired by FPS.

If we need our film industry to get good stories it's very important to encourage them. I don't think they loose anything if they put chetan's name at the begining instead at the end where nobody even care to read a long list.

3 Idiots made the original Writer Stupid