Chetan Bhagat

Chetan Bhagat (born 22 April 1974), is an Indian author, columnist, and speaker. 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), and What Young India Wants (2012). All the books have remained bestsellers since their release and three have inspired Bollywood films (including the hit film 3 Idiots). In 2008, The New York Times called Bhagat "the biggest selling English language novelist in India's history". Bhagat, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, is seen more as a youth icon than as an author. Time magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. Bhagat writes op-ed columns for popular English and Hindi newspapers, including the The Times of India and Dainik Bhaskar, focusing on youth, career and issues based on national development. Bhagat voices his opinion frequently at leading events. He quit his investment banking career in 2009, to devote his entire time to writing.

Bhagat was born in New Delhi to a middle-class family. His father was in the army and his mother was a government employee in the agricultural department.

Bhagat's education was mostly in Delhi. He attended the Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi (1978–1991). He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D)(1991–1995). He graduated from the Indian Institute of Management (1995–1997). After graduation he worked as an investment banker in Hong Kong. He had been working in Hong Kong for 11 years before shifting to Mumbai to pursue his passion for writing. He has written six books, all of which are bestsellers. His first three novels were written during his tenure as an investment banker. Before writing Revolution 2020, Chetan Bhagat lived in Varanasi for a year for background research.