‘12th Fail’ Movie Review: Vikrant Massey Gives A Career-Best Performance Despite Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Hard-Hitting Story Going Predictable

‘12th Fail’: Cast & Crew

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Medha Shankar, Anant V Joshi, Anshumaan Pushkar, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Geeta Aggarwal Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sarita Joshi, Sanjay Bishnoi, Dr. Vikas Divyakirti, Vijay Kumar Dogra, Perry Chhabra, Darius Chinoy

Available In: Theatres

Duration: 2 Hours 27 Minutes

‘12th Fail’: Story

Manoj Kumar Sharma (Vikrant Massey) belongs to Chambal village where cheating in exams is a common thing. He is appearing for his 12th standard exams and eyeing a peon’s job. But strict police officer DSP Dushyant Singh (Priyanshu Chatterjee) arrives during the exams and stops the cheating process. Manoj is unable to pass the examinations and starts to ride a passenger vehicle with his brother Kamlesh in order to earn some money. They both, however, land in trouble with goons of a politician but Dushyant Singh comes to their aid. Inspired by his honesty, Manoj starts considering him an idol and wants to become like him. The following year he clears his exams and dreams of becoming and DSP but destiny has other plans where Manoj will have to scratch hard right from the word go. Will he be able to become a DSP? Or will he end up becoming an IPS? Will he be able to succeed in the civil services exams? Or will he end up being a teacher who educates the local students of Chambal to not cheat in exams? Well, for all that, you’ll have to watch ‘12th Fail’.

‘12th Fail’: Performances

Vikrant Massey gives another career-best performance. He nails the look and body language to perfection. While the blackening of his face starts off looking a bit too much, but pretty soon Massey makes you forget that flaw with his flawless acting. It’s not like he acts the part to perfection, rather it feels like he has embodied the character in his soul. To top it all, his dialect is also utter perfection.

Medha Shankar has a worthy enough character, but it’s not as powerful as that of Massey. She plays the sweet and bubbly girlfriend perfectly, but her life, her ambitions, etc are shown really less, which makes you feel that she was playing second fiddle, which shouldn’t have been the case. The fact that her character was written by a man was evident as there was barely any depth or personality to her character. She just felt like the ‘papa ki pari’. Even she was studying at the same coaching centre trying to pass the same exam. Why was her journey shown to be so smooth and devoid of any tough times? Well, the only answer is that the character was envisioned from a male gaze.

Anant V Joshi gives another heart-touching performance after ‘Kathal’. His performance is so real that it makes you feel that you too have met such characters in your life. The character has all sorts of emotions, which makes it so relatable. From being the scared son to being the jealous compatriot to being the heartfelt friend, he showcased all emotions to perfection. Despite the shortcomings of the character, Joshi makes the character so affable.

Anshumaan Pushkar proves yet again that he is made for the big screen. He has been performing really well in numerous OTT shows, and he brings on the angry young man version again in ‘12th Fail’. His lanky figure coupled with his heavy baritone and macho body language makes him come out like Amitabh Bachchan of the 1970s. It shouldn’t be long before we start seeing him in much bigger characters in films as well.

It’s so refreshing to see Priyanshu Chatterjee back on the big screen. He always had the charm and he once again proves that his subtlety works. His character was small but was just the right amount.

‘12th Fail’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s writing based on the novel ‘12th Fail’ by Anurag Pathak is good, yet very predictable. It’s the story of an underdog making it big in life, and therefore the graph is very foreseeable. As mentioned earlier the writing of the female lead required a lot more understanding of the female psyche. Chopra has penned it from a man’s perspective making the girl’s character feel like everything has been served to her on a silver platter, which ideally isn’t the case. Girls studying and prepping for such tough exams also go through similar trials, tribulations and disappointments, which should have been written down in the narrative. Making the girl’s character stand up to her father during the end doesn’t make up for the other fallacies in the narrative of the girl’s character. Also, while there are 2-3 boys having the toughest of times trying to pass the exams, the only two girls shown (the other is Anant V Joshi’s onscreen girlfriend) had it like a piece of cake. Wow, so convenient! It could have been that Anurag Pathak’s book itself doesn’t delve too much into the girls’ characters, but being a seasoned screenwriter like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, he should have added those aspects to the screenplay to make it more universally relevant.

After Vikrant Massey’s acting, if there’s one thing that’s stellar in this film, it’s Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s direction. The way he has envisioned the story and not compromised on how to bring it to screen is brilliant. He has shot in real locations and the way he brings out the reality of the situation touches you to the core.

Shantanu Moitra’s music is definitely a high point of the film. His background score makes you feel as if you’re present right there amidst the hustle and bustle of the story.

Rangarajan Ramabadran needs a standing ovation for the brilliant cinematography. Having managed to shoot the story in the lanes and bylanes of Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi is mind-blowing. Usually, you won’t be able to step into those lanes during exam seasons, and to shoot there with such a large cast and crew must have been tough, and he got that to perfection.

The editing by Jaskunwar Kohli and Vidhu Vinod Chopra was crisp, but they could have tried to add a bit more about the women’s narrative even if that meant the length of the film increased by another 10-15 minutes. I’m sure, audiences wouldn’t have minded that.

‘12th Fail’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘12th Fail’ is an underdog story that takes the usual routes that you must have seen before. Despite the predictability of the story, the film is really hard-hitting. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s direction makes you feel like you’re amidst those young boys and girls studying for the UPSC exams in Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar. To add to that, there’s Vikrant Massey giving a career-best performance. Whether you’re a student or not, this is indeed a Poignant One-Time Watch. I am going with 3 stars.