‘12th Fail’ movie review: Vidhu Vinod Chopra delivers yet another hug of hope that is more earnest than magical

Vikrant Massey in ‘12th Fail’

At a time when the moral compass of our films resembles a roulette wheel, here comes an inspirational tale that truthfully celebrates probity in public and private life. Returning to the turnstiles after a while with a story of hope and resilience, filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra maps how a worthy son of the soil, a species that is becoming endangered in the cinematic landscape, overcomes poverty and corruption to negotiate the toughest exam of the country. The tone is a bit didactic and the treatment gets a tad overstated but it is a big-hearted film that hugs you tight with its message of human goodness. Chopra has successfully generated this delightful feeling in the past with his productions Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003) and 3 Idiots (2009), and 12th Fail feels like their spiritual cousin from the Hindi heartland.

Based on a real-life character, here is a chap from Chambal who doesn’t pick up the gun when his father is punished for his honesty. He doesn’t turn hostile when the local MLA stalls his wheels when he and his brother try to eke out a living. Instead, drawing inspiration from an upright police officer (Priyanshu Chatterjee), Manoj Kumar Sharma (Vikrant Massey) wields a pen and learns to write his own destiny in the allotted time so that he can also don the uniform and deliver the elusive justice. Cheating is a way of life in his surroundings but Manoj carries the righteous swagger imbibed from his father (Harish Khanna) and grandmother (Sarita Joshi).

Be it the cheating mafia working under political patronage to keep the masses ignorant or the excruciatingly slow wheels of justice that break the spirit of the common man, Chopra perceptively captures the everyday discrimination and dehumanisation that pushes the deprived to seek posts that exude power.

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In a telling sequence, when the father’s spirit melts in front of the insurmountable odds, he says, “We can’t win this battle, son”. Manoj replies, “But we can’t accept defeat either.” Similarly, finding themselves in an endless struggle, the scene where Manoj and his mother (Geeta Aggarwal Sharma) cry together tears you up.

For once the camera zooms into the hallowed portals of the Union Public Service Commission and captures the putrid colonial hangover that reeks of bias against candidates who come from the vernacular medium. The film employs former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s poem Haar Nahin Manooga (Won’t Give Up) to lyrically convey its point. The phrase raar nahin thanooga (won’t engage in dissension) not only symbolises the positive, can-do spirit of Manoj but goes on to define his optimistic approach, untouched by pervading cynicism.

In times when trust is in deficit, Manoj finds friends and benefactors who help him ‘restart’ in the game of snakes and ladders, as one of the seasoned aspirants rightly describes the much sought-after exam. If Pritam Pandey (Anant V Joshi) offers him food and shelter and introduces him to the UPSC challenge, his unusually composed girlfriend Shraddha (Medha Shankar) doesn’t allow the class barrier to come in between their pristine love. A trained doctor, she also wants to be an agent of change like Manoj. Not to forget Anshuman Pushkar as the failed aspirant who helps create a ladder for Manoj to realise his dream.

Cinematographer Rangarajan Ramabadran paints vivid moments in the arid Chambal and the prosaic Mukherjee Nagar in New Delhi. The minimalistic but poignant background score goes with the unostentatious performances that dot the feel-good narrative. Proficient in conveying multiple emotions through his eyes in a single frame, Vikrant finally gets an opportunity to fly and he soars. Slipping into the author-backed character, he seamlessly conveys the steely resolve and positive attitude of a boy constantly weighed down by his circumstances. His understated performance balances some of the broad strokes in the storytelling. He is ably supported by a competent cast, particularly Medha who impresses with her poise and warmth.

On the flip side, Chopra has gone a bit overboard in imparting Vikrant the physicality of a boy with modest means. There are passages where the shadow of 3 idiots is palpable in the storytelling. Be it a less-gifted friend narrating the tale of an unlikely hero or the UPSC interview scene reminding one of Raju Rastogi’s campus placement interview, the flavour of the Rajkumar Hirani film keeps wafting through the air. The problem is that while the episodes in Manoj’s life are as inspiring as those in Phunsukh Wangdu’s, they are not consistently as entertaining as 12th Fail slips into imparting moral lessons early. Perhaps, the editing could have been sharper because we have watched several OTT productions on the environment that surrounds the coaching ecosystem in the country. So, after the eye-catching and heart-pounding start in Chambal, the story settles into a pattern that we know. Shantanu Moitra’s tunes don’t cover up the gaps in storytelling. As a result, the excitement in the voice-over feels a little giddy. It is like if you have solved several previous years’ questions, you won’t be as surprised by the latest paper as the examiner would like you to be. Still, this is an important film that deserves your indulgence.

12th Fail is releasing in theatres on October 27