Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974) is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, television personality and motivational speaker, known for his English-language dramedy novels about young urban middle-class Indians.

A noted public intellectual, Bhagat also writes columns about the youth, career development and current affairs. for The Times of India (in English) and Dainik Bhaskar (in Hindi).

Bhagat's six novels have sold a total of seven million copies. In 2008, The New York Times cited Bhagat as "the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history". Movies based on Bhagat's novels include 3 Idiots, which held the record for the highest-grossing Bollywood movie ever made.

Bhagat's screenwriting efforts have included the dramedies Kai Po Che! (2013) and 2 States (2014) and the action-superhero movie Kick (2014). He won the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay for Kai Po Che! at the 59th Filmfare Awards in January 2014.

Chetan Bhagat was born in Delhi in a Punjabi family, his father was an army officer and his mother was a government employee in the agricultural department.

Bhagat attended the Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, which he graduated from in 1991. He received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi in 1995 and his MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 1997.

He worked in Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong as an Investment Banker for nearly a decade, and wrote Five Point Someone while still in Hong Kong, before moving to Mumbai to focus full-time on his writing career.

He is married to Anusha Suryanarayanan, who was his classmate in IIM Ahmedabad.

Bhagat is the author of bestselling novels, Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), What Young India Wants (2012) (speeches and columns) and Half Girlfriend (2014). All the books have remained bestsellers since their release and four have inspired Bollywood films {(including the hit films 3 Idiots, Kai Po Che!, 2 States) and Hello (One Night @ The Call Centre)}. In 2008, The New York Times cited Bhagat as "the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history". Time magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Bhagat voices his opinion frequently at leading events. He quit his investment banking career in 2009, to focus on writing. He debuted as a screenplay writer with the 2014 film Kick.

Bhagat has his columns in The Times of India and Hindustan Times. He was a judge on the Voice of India Star Anchor Hunt. Chetan Bhagat also hosts 7 RCR on ABP news, which began airing 11 January 2014. The show features a series of biographies of India's prime ministerial candidates.

"Two States" fame Chetan Bhagat for an interview of "Comedy Nights with Kapil"

Among his other activities, Bhagat is known to deliver speeches at programmes organised by corporates, educational institutes, newspapers and media houses like Dainik Bhaskar, The Times of India and at other conferences apart from writing columns for the same.