Chetan Bhagat’s latest novel criticised for its age-gap romance

Author says 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story is the best book he's written so far

Chetan Bhagat is a divisive figure in Indian pop culture. Sarah Dea / The National

The premise of Indian author and screenwriter Chetan Bhagat is dividing the internet, with some calling it “creepy”.

HarperCollins India on Wednesday posted the teaser for 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story, which centres on the romance between an older man and a younger woman.

“He’s 33. She’s 21. He’s divorced. She’s never had a boyfriend. He’s Punjabi. She’s Jain. They shouldn’t work… but they can’t stay apart,” the publisher wrote on social media. “Welcome to Chetan Bhagat’s blockbuster new love story. 12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story is a powerful, unputdownable tale of love, lust, madness and fate.”

Banker-turned-author Bhagat, 51, is a divisive figure in pop culture. While his books have never achieved major literary acclaim, many of them are bestsellers, known to attract first-time readers to English-language books. His novels have also been turned into Bollywood blockbusters, from Five Point Someone, which inspired the acclaimed film 3 Idiots (2009) to The 3 Mistakes of My Life, which became the basis for sport drama Kai Po Che! (2013).

In 2018, Bhagat, who is married, publicly apologised on Twitter after a woman posted screenshots of their chats in which he said he wanted to “woo” her.

“The screenshots, are of course real, and I am sorry if you felt they were wrong. I hope you will accept my apology,” he wrote, adding he had “misread the situation and was going through a phase” at the time.

Teasing his new novel last week, Bhagat said it's the best book he's written so far.

“After more than 10 years, I have finally come up with a love story, following 2 States and Half Girlfriend,” he wrote, referring to his previous books. “12 Years: My Messed-up Love Story is extremely close to my heart. It is funny, emotional, thought-provoking and a lot more. At its core, it tries to answer the question a lot of the new generation face these days: how do you know if someone is 'the one'.”

On social media, the HarperCollins announcement was met with mostly-negative feedback.

“I am 21. This is creepy,” one user wrote on X.

“Smut in the name of fiction,” another wrote, while one user said: “Yes, let's normalise creepiness and grooming and turn it into a Bollywood film next."

Seemingly responding to the backlash, Bhagat posted a message on X on Thursday, which read: “Push the envelope. Force people to rethink their assumptions. Make it look awfully simple but put deep thought into it. Wrap the serious issue into entertainment. Go where others haven’t. What else is the point of writing, anyway?”