Actor R Madhavan and author Chetan Bhagat were embroiled in a war of words on Twitter after the former said the Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots’ was better than the book it was adapted from, starting off a series of biting retorts and counter-retorts between the two.
However, it soon became apparent that the nasty online spat between R Madhavan and Chetan Bhagat was nothing more than a marketing gimmick aimed at promoting their recently released Netflix show, Decoupled. In the show, Madhavan plays the character of a second-best-selling author who is constantly in competition with the number one author Chetan Bhagat, who plays himself.
It all began with Netflix India asking people to pick between books and movies.
Chetan answered the question by tweeting, “My books, and the movies based on them.” Madhavan responded to his tweet with his take, “Hey Chetan…My bias is movies > books,” Madhavan tweeted on Monday evening, to which the author replied, “Have you ever heard anyone ever say the movie is better than the book?”
“Yes! 3 Idiots,” R Madhavan replied, referring to the 2009 Bollywood film he acted in, based on Bhagat’s debut best-seller, “Five Point Someone”.
Chetan asked Madhavan not to ‘try to preach to the choir’. The actor, meanwhile tweeted “If you love books so much, why are you in my new show? Decoupled streaming only on Netflix,” Madhavan responded, referring to his recently-released Netflix original, “Decoupled”.
Bhagat wasn’t the one to miss what he called “an unsubtle plug”. “I prefer a Pulitzer over a pan masala branded award show.”Madhavan returned Bhagat’s jibe with an equally sharp comeback. “Well, I prefer the 300 crore club over bestseller.”
Chetan then went on to say that he prefers to be known by his name rather than ‘Farhan from that one movie’ to which Madhavan responded, “I’m not known just as Farhan. I’m also known as Manu from Tanu Weds Manu, Kartikh from Alaipayuthey, and my favourite, Maddy kyunki mein rehta hoon sab ke dil mein (because I live in everyone’s hearts).” The last bit was a reference to Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, his debut Bollywood film.
The two ended the war of words on Twitter when Chetan asked “WOW, if this was your writing test, I’d say you passed. But honestly, what did you think about my Netflix debut?” Madhavan gave a witty reply by saying that the author is “better on the big screen”, but added that he was actually “brilliant” in the show.
The conversation went on till night, when Madhavan told a Twitter user that their banter was scripted and that it was a publicity drill. Bhagat wrapped it up with a heart emoji for Madhavan.
Created by Manu Joseph, ‘Decoupled’ follows a couple who have fallen out of love but live together for the sake of their young daughter. However, after years of living together despite separation, the two finally decide to file for divorce and tell the family with a celebration. Apart from Madhavan, the show also stars Surveen Chawla and ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ fame Apara Jariwala. Decoupled is currently streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Pandey starrer ‘Gehraiyaan’ to release on Jan 25.
