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Alia-Arjun have done justice to my story: Chetan Bhagat

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Chetan Bhagat's '2 States' is ready to release and the author feels both Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have done justice to his story about two state-crossed lovers.

Based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Bhagat, the film produced by Karan Johar and directed by Abhishek Varman, is releasing tomorrow.

Inspired by Bhagat's own marriage to wife Anusha, the film is about two people from different states of India, who fall in love and how they convince their parents to accept them.

With Arjun playing a Punjabi boy who falls in love with Alia, a Tamil girl, the film revolves around the cultural clash that they and their families go through.
 

Bhagat, who has also written the screenplay for the movie, said he is happy with the perfection with which Alia and Arjun have played their roles.

"Alia and Arjun have perfectly adapted the characters of the book. Though I admit that the book was little away from the real life story, but the movie is very close to what the book was. And Alia and Arjun have aptly lived the life of Ananya and Krish on screen," he told PTI.

Bhagat, however, is feeling shy to finally see the story of his marriage on the big screen.

"I am feeling numb and really shy as this is the story of my life. Though it has been in public domain since the book was released, but the feeling of seeing it onscreen is making me feel shy," Bhagat said.

He is optimistic that the film will get as good response as he feels that the issue raised in the movie is still evident in the society where marrying out of caste is still a taboo in many areas of the country.

"Things have changed but only to the extent that one's parents would not beat him or her for doing so but that soulful acceptance is still not there in parents even if they admit to their children's desires," he said.

The author, who is turning 40 next week, is working on his new book which would be a 'rural-urban' love story.

"I am trying to experiment with the characters to make them different than those in my earlier books. The book will be released by November," he said.

Bhagat has written six bestselling books, including 'What Young India Wants', 'Revolution 2020', 'Three Mistakes of My Life', 'One Night at a Call Centre', '2 States' and 'Five Point Someone'.

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First Published: Apr 17 2014 | 3:08 PM IST

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