R Madhavan says 3 Idiots was ‘better than the book’, Chetan Bhagat hits back with dig at ‘pan masala branded award show’

Author Chetan Bhagat seemingly got into a nasty Twitter spat with actor R Madhavan. However, it appeared to be a gimmick for their recently-released Netflix show, Decoupled. In the series, Madhavan, who plays the second-bestselling author in India, is constantly in competition with Chetan, who plays himself.

It all started when Chetan answered a ‘movies vs books’ question by tweeting, “My books, and the movies based on them.” Madhavan said that he is biased towards films, to which the author replied, “Have you ever heard anyone ever say the movie is better than the book?”

“YES! 3 Idiots,” Madhavan replied. The film, in which he played an engineering student, was based on Chetan’s book Five Point Someone.

Chetan asked Madhavan not to ‘try to preach to the choir’. The actor, meanwhile, asked the author why he acted in Decoupled if he was partial towards books.

“HAHAHAHAHA, what an unsubtle plug, maybe it’s just me, I prefer a Pulitzer over a pan masala branded award show,” Chetan said, while Madhavan hit back saying, “Well I prefer the 300 Crore Club over Bestseller.”

Chetan said that he prefers to be known by his name rather than ‘Farhan from that one movie’. 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.

Also read: R Madhavan reveals why his father was once ‘driven to tears’, told him ‘I wonder what I have done wrong with you’

Madhavan and Chetan ended their war of words on a good note. “WOW, if this was your writing test, I'd say you passed. But honestly what did you think about my Netflix debut?” Chetan wrote. Madhavan joked that the author is ‘better on the big screen’, just like his books, but added that he was actually ‘brilliant’ in the show.