International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

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Breaking the Convention: Re-reading Chetan Bhagat’s 400 Days as an ‘Indianised’ Detective-Mystery Fiction

Author(s) Debayan Banerjee
Country India
Abstract Chetan Bhagat (1974- ), conceivably the trendsetter of Indian English popular fiction, puts on an alternative lens to portray Indian society. Since his first novel, Five Point Someone, Bhagat not only earns immense readership but also attests to writing stories with which the lower-middle-class Indian youth feels connected. A maverick in style, tone, and temperament, Bhagat has often been criticised by the intelligentsia for compromising the conventions of Indian English fiction in the pursuit of establishing his popularity. Contrarily, his admirers consider him a voice to champion colloquial/anchalik Indian English.
With the publication of The Girl in Room No 105, Bhagat introduces a detective-mystery series. His insistence on highlighting the prevalent social contradictions through the marginalised position of the detective(s), certainly gives the series a post-colonial utterance. In 400 Days (2021), the detective duo Keshav and Saurabh rescue Siya Arora, a twelve-year-old child, after nine months of her abduction. Structured in the form of a ‘whodunit’, the multi-layered narrative neither portrays the detectives as ‘perfect’ nor mystifies the reader in the jigsaw puzzle of its necessary pre-requisite mystery. Here, the plot thickens as the narrative progresses, revealing the complex dynamics of relations that involve the members of the Arora family and Keshav’s affair with Alia, the abducted child’s mother.
The main objective of this venture is to underscore Bhagat’s points of ‘departure’ from the ‘established’ formulas of detective-mystery fiction as he puts equal weight on unfolding the stereotypes of Indian society. I will also try to zoom in on the fact that Bhagat is commercially successful not because he writes in ‘accessible’ English, but because of his tactical selection of the genre to serve the ‘appetite’ of his intended readers.
Keywords Detective-Mystery Fiction, India, Chetan Bhagat
Field Arts
Published In Volume 7, Issue 1, January-February 2025
Published On 2025-01-29
Cite This Breaking the Convention: Re-reading Chetan Bhagat’s 400 Days as an ‘Indianised’ Detective-Mystery Fiction - Debayan Banerjee - IJFMR Volume 7, Issue 1, January-February 2025.
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E-ISSN 2582-2160
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