Chirag Gupta

Chirag Gupta
Name	Chirag Gupta
Gender	Male
Age	12-13
Occupation	Middle school student
Status	Alive
Actor	Karan Brar Veda Maharaj
First appearance	Diary of a Wimpy Kid (online)
Last appearance	Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (book) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022 film) (film)

“	You may be able to dominate me physically, Greg Heffley, but mentally, I am the more muscular!	”
	— Chirag to Greg after the latter starts the "Invisible Chirag" game

Chirag Gupta is a friend of Greg Heffley who appears as a supporting character early on in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, with his last appearance being in Cabin Fever. His role is expanded in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie adaptations, where he is played by Karan Brar. He is voiced by Veda Maharaj in the 2021 animated adaptation.

History

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

When Greg discusses a hypothetical school system where grades would be based on your height, he notes that short kids like Chirag would still be in first grade.

Rodrick Rules

Greg mentions that, in June, Chirag's family moved and had a big going-away party, which the whole neighborhood attended.

When Chirag's family moves back and he returns to school, everyone is happy to see him again. A few people, including Greg, start a prank where they pretend that he's not around, which Greg initially believes will be short-lived.

The "Invisible Chirag" prank rapidly spreads to the entire class. The next day, when the science teacher asks Greg to count everyone in the class so she can get enough safety goggles, he counts everyone except Chirag. This sets him off, so he stands up on his desk and screams that he is a human being too.

Chirag gives up trying to talk to anyone in class until he finds out that Rowley Jefferson is a weak spot. At lunch, he tries to make Rowley say that he exists by bribing him with a corn dog. Before he can speak, Greg tells everyone in the cafeteria that there is a floating corn dog hovering about his lunch table, takes it from Chirag, and eats it in two bites. Chirag becomes very mad and starts punching Greg's arm, which he pretends not to notice.

Chirag presumably tells Vice Principal Roy about the prank afterward, which results in Greg being called down to his office. However, he misidentifies the person he was playing the joke, so Greg apologizes to the right student (who's clearly confused about what's happening). Chirag is present when Greg is let out of Vice Principal Roy's office with a lollipop and a pat on the back.

When Chirag tells his father about the prank, he calls Greg's mom to tell her about it. She takes Greg to his house so he can apologize. Though Mr. Gupta doesn't seem too impressed with his apology, Chirag is cool about it and invites Greg inside to play video games. However, on the way home, Susan is mad with Greg, not about Chirag or the prank, but just for lying about it.

The Last Straw

During Valentine's Day, Chirag is seen on the bleachers near Greg. Later on April Fools' Day, Greg and a few other kids pull another prank on Chirag where they talk quietly around him to make him think he's losing his hearing. He quickly figures out what is going on and reports straight to the teacher.

The Ugly Truth

When Greg brags to everyone at his lunch table that his family is getting a maid, Chirag says that his family doesn't need a maid and that he's glad his mom is there whenever he comes home from school. He is also among the kids in Greg's grade who only got invited to Jordan Jury's party to be used as servants.

Cabin Fever

Greg mentions that he has a few friends that don't celebrate Christmas who act extra jerky during the holiday season just because they can, giving Chirag as an example. This is his last appearance in the books.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film)

Chirag first appeared being bullied by bigger kids and having his backpack taken and tossed around. He is an occasional addition to Greg's circle of friends. When Greg and Rowley almost touch the Cheese, he immediately stops them and tells them about the Cheese Touch, and how it started.

Rodrick Rules (2011 film)

Chirag is first seen in the roller rink with the rest of Greg's classmates as part of a back-to-school event. Here, he demonstrates being a bit of a creep by fawning over the new girl in town, Holly Hills as he looked her up and learned about her wealthy family background. He went so far with it as she greets them, only for Chirag to scare her by interrupting he knows who she is including her name and address, making her walk away uncomfortable. At the beginning of the year, Chirag passes by relieved as there is a new 6th grader that is now in his position Chirag was in on his first day in middle school, with the big kids playing keep away with him instead of Chirag. Sometime in the beginning of the term, he goes on a trip to India, eventually returning and mocking Greg that he still did not hook up with Holly. Greg starts the "Invisible Chirag" joke after Chirag's snide remark to him. Their peers around them overhear Greg's joke and begin to laugh.

Chirag took it as a challenge with the whole class getting in on the game and laughing with Greg. Greg continually outmatches Chirag throughout the school year. In one of his attempts to get Greg to notice him, he tries to fool Rowley by waving around his favorite treat, a corndog, bribing Rowley into taking it and henceforth, acknowledging Chirag's existence. Greg, however, quickly gets the class roaring with laughter by saying there is a hovering corndog at their table, beating Chirag in this round. Eventually, Chirag tricks Greg into noticing him by dressing up as Holly. He starts with leaving a fake note in Holly's handwriting for Greg to meet her in the art room before lunch. There, Greg tries to greet "Holly" whom drops a mannequin hand and turns around to reveal it being Chirag. Greg gets startled and yells Chirag's name, which Chirag quickly made Greg realized he sees him now. Greg loses the game as others witness it and gets humiliated in the process. Chirag is last seen performing a Bollywood-esque dance number at the Plainview's Most Talented Show.

Dog Days (film)

Chirag is first seen on the last day of seventh grade in Greg's fantasy. Greg tells Rowley that he needs to make a connection with Holly during the summer believing a lot can change during the vacation. Greg imagines at the first day back, Holly would be married to Chirag. His first real-time appearance is in class when Mr. Draybick tells everyone to take out their textbooks. When Greg purposely doesn't bring his textbook for the last day of school while everyone else does, Chirag comments saying he pities him after Patty Farrell berates Greg. When school lets out, Chirag get drowned by the students as they are stampeding to leave and attempts to ask Greg for help. Later in the summer, Chirag is one of the founding members of the Reading Is Fun Club, to which he is disappointed and sarcastically thanks Greg for inviting him to read books of all things for the summer as his mother starts it. Halfway into the movie, Chirag is a members of the same boy scout troop called the "Wilderness Explorers" with Greg, Rowley, and Fregley, led by Greg's father, Frank. While at a camping trip for the weekend, Stan Warren's troops take the campsite they were trying to set up and forcing the Heffley troops to set up by the outhouses instead. He along with Greg, Rowley, and Fregley overhear Warren berate their troop and Greg's father as troop leader.

Chirag's final scene takes place with him helping Greg to devise a prank on Warren and his troops. Greg plans to plant ants into the Warren's tent and in a panic run out of the tent and into a web of honey to get stuck. Chirag helps weave the giant web of honey to catch Mr. Warren and his troop. In the process, Chirag gets caught in the web and Greg gets him off, leaving Chirag covered with honey. However, the plan goes south as Warren returns to his tent while Greg broke in to plant the ants. Chirag says, "Goodbye Gregory, I will always remember you!" Mr. Warren suspects raccoons are in the tent and almost attacked Greg. When Greg escapes, Mr. Warren gets entangled and accidentally throws his own tent in the campfire. Stan confronts Frank about it, telling him that his kids are responsible, to which Greg confesses he acted alone. However, his friends stepped in to defend him, Chirag explaining to Frank that Mr. Warren disrespected him, after Rowley told Frank that Greg did it to protect his father's honor.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film)

In this film he replaces the role of Collin Lee and is not a friend of Greg. He is first mentioned when Rowley talks about the The Wizard of Oz play. He later became Rowley's friend after Greg went to Rowley at the table and yell at him for supposedly screwing everything up. He can be seen again when Greg tries to make Rowley jealous by offering a sleepover with Fregley. He is last seen when he says Greg has the Cheese Touch then runs away along with all the other kids.

Rodrick Rules (2022 film)

According to a pamphlet that lists all of the acts at the Talent Show, he exhibits his karate skills in act two.

Online

In November, Greg was invited to Chirag's going-away party. Greg was surprised because he never had treated him well during the 6 years that he had known him. Back in fourth grade Ben Fielders and Greg messed with Chirag by making him think he's deaf. But after experiencing the party, he stated that he would have befriended him a long time ago.

But when his dad decides to decline the job, Chirag is back at school where he soon fell victim to Greg's Invisible Chirag joke. Compare to the book Greg shows slightly less sympathy as he didn't admit that eating an entire cookie that was suppose to be for Chirag was cruel.

Chirag shows care in his grades as he ignores Greg and Giles Hugglestone who are actively playing the Invisible Chirag joke and did all the work by himself.

He bribes Rowley with a Twinkie instead of a corndog.

Greg hoped that Chirag drew his name because his mom always go above the 3 dollar during the Secret Santa exchange.

At his end-of-the-year party, Chirag invites everyone, but writes "bring a bathing suit" only on the girls' invitations. Greg and Rowley ask if they can just dip their feet into Chirag's hot tub, but he declines, instead suggesting they retrieve more Pepsis.A similar gag is reused in the Ugly Truth.

Appearance

Chirag is extremely short, with a fairly long nose and has short and stubby hair. In the movies, Chirag is portrayed as an egotistical showboat and Greg's frenemy. He also has a heavy Indian accent, with ear length black wavy hair that covers his forehead, and noticeably large teeth in this version. In the online book, he has an afro-like hairstyle.

Trivia

• Based on estimates made from illustrations of him, Chirag Gupta is most likely between 3' 5" (104.14 cm) and 3' 7" (109.22 cm) tall. However, this is only conjecture, as his height has never been definitively stated within the series.
• Chirag is much shorter than his father, who is an extremely tall man.
  • As such, it is possible that Chirag inherited his height from his mother or another family member he is descended from.
  • Another explanation is that Chirag hasn't hit his growth spurt yet.
• Chirag is most likely a retired character; he has not appeared in the series since Cabin Fever.
  • Although this is Chirag's last appearance, his dad makes a cameo in No Brainer.
• Chirag plays more or less the same roles as he does in the books, though in this version, he is from a wealthy family.
• In the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie, he is shown in 21st place on the Popularity List.
• Judging by his name, he is likely to be Indian.
• In Cabin Fever, it is revealed that Chirag's family doesn't celebrate Christmas. This indicates that he is either a Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Jain, or Buddhist (the main religions of India alongside Christianity).
• In the German translations of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Chirag's name is Mike Lerner. It is unknown why this change was made.
• Karan Brar, who played Chirag in the first three films, naturally speaks with an American accent and worked with a dialect coach to perfect his Indian accent for the role.
  • The same was done with Veda Maharaj.
• Chirag loves chocolate chip cookies. This is revealed in Rodrick Rules, when Greg eats one right in front of him to tease him during the Invisible Chirag joke.

Appearances

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (online)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever (cameo)
• The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary (all four editions)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself book
• The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book
• Wimpy Wonderland (name seen)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010 film)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2011 film)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (2012 film)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2021 film)
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (2022 film)
• Chirag's Trail of Tears
• Beat It, Bully!

Gallery

See Chirag Gupta/Gallery