Author Chetan Bhagat got into a Twitter spat with actor R Madhavan after the latter posted that his film ‘3 Idiots’ was better than the book written by the former.  The argument 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?”

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

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.

Chetan , then, 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.

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“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 answers 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.

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The conversation ended 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.