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, touching 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 perennially in competition with the number one author Chetan Bhagat, who plays himself.
The friendly banter started with a tweet posted by Chetan Bhagat where he quoted a tweet by Netflix’s official Twitter account on whether he preferred books over movies or vice versa. Bhagat tweeted, “My books, and the movies based on them.” Actor Madhavan, however, said he is prejudiced towards movies over books, to which the author replied, “Have you ever heard anyone ever say the movie is better than the book?”
“Yes! 3 Idiots,” came a sharp reply by the actor. 3 Idiots, the movie in which Madhavan played an Engineering student along with Aamir Khan and Sharman Joshi, is inspired by Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone.
YES! 3 Idiots🤩🤩🤣🤣🙏 https://t.co/gciVNcobiA
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) December 20, 2021
Chetan responded to his tweet, saying Madhavan should not try preaching to the choir. He then asked the actor to go and read books. However, Madhavan quipped why he was featured in his show Decoupled when he was biased towards books.
“HAHAHAHAHA, what an unsubtle plug, maybe it’s just me, I prefer a Pulitzer over a pan masala branded award show,” Chetan shot back, to which Madhavan said, “Well I prefer the 300 Crore Club over Bestseller.”
HAHAHAHAHA, what an unsubtle plug, maybe it’s just me, I prefer a Pulitzer over a pan masala branded award show. https://t.co/fdJb7RZBuF
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) December 20, 2021
In a sarcastic jibe at the actor, the author then said he prefers to be known as Chetan Bhagat and not as Farhan from one of the movies. 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 one was a reference to Madhavan’s block bluster movie, Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein.
The duo, however, ended their online squabbling on a positive note, with Chetan lauding Madhavan for his writing skills. “WOW, if this was your writing test, I’d say you passed. But honestly, what did you think about my Netflix debut?” Chetan wrote.
I would say just like your books, you are also better on the big screen! Hahahahaha.. actually you were Brilliant bro. ❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏😄😄😄 https://t.co/NziHuMWQte
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) December 20, 2021
Madhavan returned the compliment saying Bhagat was brilliant in the show. “I say just like your books, you are also better on the big screen! Hahahahaha.. actually you were Brilliant bro,” Madhavan said.
