The author explains how Vidya has influenced his work over the years

Any guesses why the sister in Chetan Bhagat's The 3 Mistakes of my Life named Vidya? After all she shares her name with an acclaimed Bollywood actress now. Well, Chetan shares a good rapport with Vidya Balan and that answers the question.

For starters, Chetan named a character Vidya in The 3 Mistakes of my Life which was later adapted for Kai Po Che. Interestingly enough, Amrita Puri's character in the film is also called Vidya a la the character in the book.


On being asked, the bespectacled writer sheds broader light on the subject. `The fact remains that Vidya is connected with me in every book I've written till date. I had first gone to meet her to ask her to launch my debut book Five Point Someone which she did.

That was when she also introduced me to Raju Hirani. He later took my book and made 3 Idiots. After that, I decided to give tribute to Vidya by naming a female character in the book I was writing then.

Incidentally, the producer of Kai Po Che happens to be Vidya's husband Siddharth Roy Kapoor. Furthermore, the rights of my latest book Revolution 20-20 has been bought by him too so my association with Vidya continues.`