Movie Review: "Twelfth (12th) Fail: The story of not accepting defeat without losing self-respect..."

Rating: Three and a half stars

Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Author: Anurag Pathak, his novel 'Twelfth Fail'

Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra

Cast: Vikrant Massey, Palak Lalwani, Medha Shankar, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sanjay Vishnoi, Harish Khanna, Vikas Divyakirti, Vijay Kumar Dogra

Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes

The creator of films like 'Khamosh', 'Parinda' and '1942 A Love Story', coming out of his usual style, and Have brought teaching the ideals of rural background and giving the inspirational message of 'man should never give up', the film '' 'Twelfth/12th Fail', which is based on Anurag Pathak's novel '12th Fail'. This film gives the message that a person should not do any work by selling his soul. We have not read this book, so it is difficult to say how many changes the filmmaker has made in the book. But at the level of the story, the filmmaker has not introduced anything new. Every year, poor people from the Hindi-speaking areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Children of vegetable vendors and rickshaw pullers have been passing IAS or IPS. The center of IAS and IPS studies is Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. The dedication and hard work with which we have seen children immersed in their studies there is amazing.

The filmmaker could not show complete honesty in his film. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's specialty has been that he weaves a love story in every film, so this film also has a love story. Not only this, the filmmaker has told the love story in such a way. It is said that somewhere the hero's own idealism and hard work become secondary. Watching the film one realizes that his girlfriend, who has now become a Deputy Collector, writes a letter promising to love him, and marry him, and if he does not become an IPS, then she will live her life with a mill operator. After that the hero in the interview, he talks about idealism a bit too arrogantly. In fact, the filmmaker claims that this is a true story. (Yes! This story is about Manoj Kumar Sharma, who is currently holding the post of Assistant Police Commissioner in Mumbai, and his wife. Shraddha Joshi, who is currently the Secretary of the Maharashtra State Women's Commission.) Now it is natural to raise the question as to why police officer Manoj Kumar Sharma felt the need to bring the personal story of his life on the big screen and only they know how much truth is there in what has been shown in the film.

Story:

The story of the film begins in a village in the Chambal area, where a young man named Manoj Sharma (Vikrant Massey) is about to appear for the 12th-class examination. His father (Harish Khanna) is extremely honest and refuses to sign his signature on the MLA's acrobatics. Then he hits his superior with a shoe, so he is fired from his job. His father is infuriated and goes to fight a court battle. Here, like every year, this year also Manoj goes to school to appear for the exam with the desire of cheating passing 12th and getting a job. It turns out that honest and strict DySP Dushyant (Priyanshu Chatterjee) arrives at the exam center. The MLA and the school administrator do not get along. Due to this, there is no opportunity to cheat and all the children including Manoj fail. Then Manoj and his brother start driving 'Jugaad' to earn some money. But when the MLA's bus runs, it is natural that on the instructions of the MLA, the local police confiscate Manoj's Jugaad and lock Manoj and his brother in the lockup. Manoj has Chambal's blood inside him. He tells the police inspector to give me a chance, he will bring the gun from home and shoot him in the head. He lets him go but keeps his brother locked up. Manoj reaches Dushyant's bungalow and tells the truth. Dushyant goes to the police station with him and rescues his brother. Now it comes to Manoj's mind that he too will become DSP. For this, he will pass the MPSSC exam. Dushyant says that to do this he will have to stop cheating. This is where Manoj Sharma becomes honest.

Taking permission from his grandmother and mother (Geeta Aggarwal Sharma), he leaves for Gwalior to prepare for the MPSSC exam. While leaving, his grandmother gives him all the money she has hidden from people and tells him to come in a police uniform. On the way, all Manoj's belongings and money got stolen. Not only this, he comes to know that the government does not have money and the recruitment of State Administrative Service has stopped for 3 years. While Manoj Sharma is suffering from hunger, a hotel owner gives him free food as he is a student, where he meets Naval Pandey (Anant Vijay Joshi). Naval Pandey's father is a contractor and he is going to prepare to become an IPS in Delhi. Naval, Impressed by Manoj's words, he takes him along with him to Delhi. In Delhi, Manoj and Naval meet a boy named Tutul, who introduces them to Gauri Bhaiya (Anshuman Pushkar). Gauri Bhaiya comes from OBC, and despite trying six times, he could not pass the 'Union Public Service Commission' examination. But while running a tea shop in Mukherjee Nagar, he encouraged other boys by getting them prepared for the 'Union Public Service Commission' examination for free. Gauri Bhaiya also helps Manoj with money. Somehow, once he cracks Pre and reaches for Mains, he falls in love with Shraddha Joshi (Medha Shankar), a girl from Mussoorie. Life changes again. Even after restarting, he faces failure. Once again Gauri teaches him new lessons. After this, there are many ups and downs in the story.

Review:

There are some shortcomings in the script of the film. Vidhu Vinod Chopra has written an excellent script along with Jaskunwar Kohli, Anurag Pathak, and Ayush Saxena. Vidhu Vinod Chopra's film 'Twelfth Fail' is a story of a young man overcoming his poor background, facing his adversaries, and overcoming extreme hardships. The competition is a realistic portrayal of his efforts to listen to his conscience while appearing for the Union Public Service Commission examination. Manoj does not just want to be a police officer, but he also wants to be an honest man, conveying this in an effective manner without any kind of rhetoric. Vidhu Chopra has presented this film. This is the quality of his direction. But the reason for coloring Vikrant Massey in brown color in this film is beyond understanding. Perhaps in the eyes of filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, brown skin is a symbol of poverty. Apart from this, what is the thinking of the filmmaker behind getting a boy from a Brahmin family to clean the toilet, only he knows... but all these are the weak links of this film. Vidhu Vinod Chopra deserves congratulations for the fact that in the climax, he has rightly highlighted how poor and Hindi-speaking candidates are discouraged in the interviews of 'The Union Public Service Commission'. But this film remains silent on the commercialization of education. After his previous unsuccessful film 'Shikara', Vidhu Vinod Chopra proved that at the age of 71, he still has the spark to make great films.

The film needs to be tightened on the editing table. The sound engineer did not do a proper job. The mixing of the film is also messed up. The sound comes before many scenes...

Acting:

Vikrant Massey has given life to the character of Manoj Sharma, who comes from a village background, is scared, and is in search of his dreams. Vikrant Massey has tried his best to get into the character through his acting. Even if he cleans the toilet whether it is to do it or to remove the dust accumulated on the library books or to make a name for yourself by running a flour mill and sticking to the truth even at the cost of failing in the interview. Medha Shankar in the role of Shraddha Joshi proved it despite it being her first film. That there is no dearth of acting talent in her along with her beauty. When Shraddha Joshi talks directly to her father about the disgusting and false allegations against her character, then Medha Shankar's acting brings her into the category of an excellent actress. Priyanshu Chatterjee's talent has been utilized in the small role of Dushyant. Anshuman Pushkar leaves a mark of his acting in the role of Gauri Bhaiya. Anant Vijay Joshi's performance in the role of Naveen Pandey is also excellent.

- Shantiswarup Tripathi