12th Fail Movie Review — Sucharita Tyagi
A Vidhu Vinod Chopra film, a Martin Scorsese film, the MAMI film festival is on the ground once again, I am in Mumbai! Koffee With Karan is back on air.
Good times!
Vikrant is Manoj Kumar Singh, a young IPS aspirant from Chambal, who wants to do big things in life, but has not one clue how to start. An encounter with an honest police officer makes him want to make something of his life, he leaves Chambal, ending up in Delhi, preparing for UPSC exams. Every complication life could potentially throw at him, it does. Will he make it?
Adapted from a book of the same name by Anurag Pathak, 12vi Fail is the real-life story of IPS Officer Manoj Kumar Sharma and his wife IRS Officer Shraddha Joshi. The degree of embellishment doesn’t matter here, because like a coaching center teacher, played delightfully by Vikas Divyakirti, a teacher himself, explains….diwali waala rocket or NASA waale rocket ka principal same hai. Kahani asli hai ya nakli , mool same hai ki what does it take, in our country, for a person to break through class divides? Is being a police officer a way of giving back to Manoj, or a way of taking something he believes he deserves, i.e. dignity of life, the ability to work, and the power to enforce the law?
That Vikrant Massey is a fine performer isn’t new information, and this might be his most challenging role to date. The actor is undoubtedly very polished, very careful, and capable of telling this story. However, the film makes the bizarre choice of using actor Anant V Joshi’s voice-over from the first frame till the end, to tell us the story, as we see it unfold, tragically watering down the dramatic impact of the tale. Hearing “Manoj bohot khush tha, aaj pehli baar kisi ladki ne uska naam poocha tha”, as you see a very happy Manoj after a girl has just asked him his name, is redundant to the point of making the viewing experience tedious. Voice over and text appear multiple times explaining the passage of time reminding you that this in fact is a MOVIE, and now the screenplay is moving forward. You see Manoj’s younger sister grow older and bigger in size, an indication he has been gone from his village for many years. But there’s also the voiceover.
Anant Joshi is a very good actor, I enjoyed him in Kathal and in 12vi Pass where he plays bestie Pandey, there isn’t one scene here where he allows anyone to overpower him. Reminiscent of Madhavan’s character from 3 Idiots, he is the boy, too terrified to tell his father about his more artistic interests. He finds Manoj right after the latter had lost everything in a theft, and becomes his benefactor and eventual savior, but sadly unable to save himself, finding solace in alcohol. 12vi Fail is not the kind of film that would explore the many ways in which Pandey’s story could have gone wrong, nonetheless, it’s a solid, evocative performance.
12vi fail has a monologue problem at par with its exposition problem, and as such feels lazy in parts. Pandey and Manoj meet a local tutor Gouri Bhaiyya who inducts them free into his class, but not before immediately sharing his entire life’s story in the same scene. Perhaps because we’re seeing this world through Manoj’s eyes and this is how HE evaluates people, every new character he meets except Pandey, is introduced to us basis their righteousness, post which little attempt is made to turn these folks into flawed flesh and blood individuals. Cops are either corrupt or wonderful, coaching managers are cartoonishly evil or angelic. The love story where Medha Shankar appears as Manoj’s love interest Shradha is rushed and convenient, and Shradha readily along for the ride. In one scene, to show us SOME conflict in this relationship, Shraddha spends 2 dispassionate minutes convincing her father she isn’t sleeping with Manoj in Delhi, post which he’s like ‘cool’ par agar iss scene aur character par dhyaan diya hota toh it wouldn’t have been a conversation about trusting your daughter not to have sex but about butting out of your adult daughter sex life, but again, 12vi fail is not that film.
12vi Fail and Vikrant Massey both are strongest in the third act. So far we’ve spent time being frustrated along with this man who keeps coming close to making it to the next level and keeps getting pushed back each time. Opportunities we take for granted, like learning basic English, are denied to him, and some mistakes he does make on his own, overall its clear his challenges are insurmountable, ANY ONE would give up. As such, when in the final moments, the hero’s journey is close to completion, when Manoj is faced with ONE last roadblock, you hold your breath with him. You are his family waiting for the phone call, you’re the friend making your way to the bulletin board to read the results. Massey, admittedly given to melodrama occasionally during the film’s runtime, is poised in his climactic outburst. A joy to watch.
The film ends with text saying it is dedicated to a handful of honest police officers, and if nothing else, it is mildly shocking to see a Hindi film be about the police force and assure you it is not copaganda.
