One Night @ the Call Center by Chetan Bhagat

A mystic call… One Night @ the Call Center, a fiction of Chetan Bhagat, is written in the setting of India. As it is a story of youngsters, love, career, and frustration, the youth took much interest in the novel when it was first published in 2005.

Chetan Bhagat’s One Night @ the Call Center was published in 2005 and was much appreciated by the then youngsters of India. A Hindi film was also made based on the novel titled “Hello” in 2008. 

This novel starts with an exciting style. The novelist was traveling on a train from Kanpur to Delhi. He heard the story from a co-passenger in his journey and promised to write a novel on her story. 

One Night @ the Call Center’s Main Plot And Its Length

The whole story extends a night only, and the action takes place in the office, Connexions Call Center. Along with love, inner conflict, and social crisis, the fictionist has brought mysticism here. 

It is about a tale of five youths and an uncle, a Military Uncle working in a call center. The youths of the story are worried about their career as the story begins with their frustration. They are suffering from an identity crisis. 

For their customer’s convenience, Shyam Mehra has become Sam Marcy, Radhika Jha as Regina Jones, and so on. All are always afraid of losing their job. If the call lists decrease and the company gets no new contracts, they will lose their jobs. 

Goals of The Characters in The Fiction

Everyone is seeking to do something better. Shyam and Vroom are working for a website to impress their boss and get a higher position in the company.

Esha is trying to be a model. It is her dream, her dream of being famous.

The Narrative Style of The Fiction

The author has written the novel in the first-person narrative style. Being the speaker here, Shyam is a dynamic character who suffers inner conflicts. 

From Shyam’s mouth, the readers know the background of the story. 

Love And Complication Prevail in The Fiction

One of the main themes of the novel is love. Two love affairs exist here. One is of Shyam and Priyanka, and the other is of Vroom and Esha. However, some highs and lows are evident in both couples. 

Radhika, the other significant character, loves her husband much, but she knows he is cheating on her. So, her conjugal life is tremoring. Marriage and identity crisis also play essential roles as the theme of this fiction.

The writer of this review is an alumnus of the Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka.

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