Actor R Madhavan and author Chetan Bhagat recently got into a war of words on Twitter during which the former said he found his hit film '3 Idiots' better than 'Five Point Someone'-- Chetan's book on which the movie was based.
Although the recent Twitter feud appeared to be a promotional stint by the two for their recently released show 'Decoupled', various members of the Twitterati seem to have enjoyed it.
Chetan plays himself in 'Decoupled', which stars Madhavan as a misanthropic writer--the second-bestselling author in India.
To his tweet, Madhavan replied "Hey Chetan...My bias is movies > books," to which the 47-year-old author wrote, "Have you ever heard anyone ever say the movie is better than the book?"
Madhavan replied, "YES! 3 Idiots," while adding laughing emoticons.
The 2009 Rajkumar Hirani directorial blockbuster movie was based on Chetan's book 'Five Point Someone.'
To this, Chetan replied, "You're flaunting 3 Idiots to ME? Don't try to preach to the choir, maybe you should go actually read my books."
Madhavan, 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', to which 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)." 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' was Madhavan's debut Bollywood film.
The two ended the war of words on Twitter when Chetan asked "WOW, if this was your writing test, I'd say you passed. But honestly, what did you think about my Netflix debut?"
Madhavan gave a witty reply by saying that the author is "better on the big screen", but added that he was actually "brilliant" in the show.
Created by Manu Joseph, 'Decoupled' also stars Surveen Chawla and 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' fame Apara Jariwala.