What comes to your mind when you think of modern Indian literature? If you are anything like the average Indian reader, the profound and deeply moving novels of Chetan Bhagat and Savi Sharma are to come to your mind. After all, are they not the face of our literary works—the ones that enticed the young generation to try their hand at reading?
They deserve their due credit, but their mass appeal and unambiguous language happen to be a different level of cringe. Their writings can neither emotionally trap us like Khaled Hosseini, nor are the plots anything near to an intriguing Agatha Christie novel. Here are 4 Indian authors you need to avoid at all costs!
1) Chetan Bhagat
This man needs no introduction—the infamous banker turned writer. His first novel, Five point someone, was adapted into the blockbuster Bollywood movie which we all loved: 3 Idiots. But writing a movie’s script and a novel are 2 different things—something he still needs to learn. He seems to have clung to the monotonous recipe of college romance, and who wouldn’t, after continuous bestsellers? But foreseeably, the same story gets boring once written over and over again, just through different characters and slightly different circumstances. And it’s not as if he has an admirable flair of writing to back him up for his poorly developed stories.
2) Savi Sharma
This debut novelist took the literary world by storm with her book—“Everyone Has A Story”. Unfortunately, the book lacked one of the most important ingredients for a good book: Logic. Her characters are too predictable, almost as if they were wholly picked from a cliché movie and placed in the fictional world. Not just her first book, but almost all her stories follow the same course, so closely that it’s almost impossible to remember which character played their part in which book. And though she tries to compensate for it by her occasionally flowery writing, it isn’t enough to compel us to read the entire book.
3) Durjoy Datta
He is yet another novelist following the same path as his predecessors, by paying more heed to marketing than the actual structure and authenticity of his books. All of his books are love stories, where the protagonists and events are closely based on his personal experiences. Which, as expected, leads to a lack of variation and predictable works. The reason behind the dimpled boy’s fame is very well known, but becoming an acclaimed writer requires much more than powerful marketing.
4) Ravinder Singh
Ravinder Singh tries to oversimplify his language to such an extent that one doesn’t need a dictionary while reading. But somewhere in the midst of this, the plot loses its essence. Despite all of his novels having a captivating storyline, his writing fails to connect the readers to the characters and their precarious lives. And the climax where the reader is supposed to undergo a stream of emotions, leaves us rather detached from the characters, and quite relieved that the book has been read. To put it succinctly, if you are hoping for a heart-rending story that stays with you forever, Ravinder Singh’s works are the last place to go to.
Have you read any of these authors' works? Please share your opinion in the comment section below!
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