Review : 12th Fail : Passes with flying colours!
Every citizen has a right to education. But our political system did not reach the interiors of the country hence a majority of population remained uneducated, which included bright and deserving students too. Frankly a few success stories of students from the deprived society attaining higher education with their grit and determination won’t solve the problem. But again the efforts put in by the students who excelled despite everything against them needs an applause. Hrithik Roshan starrer Super 30 brought a true story of a downtrodden student from Bihar gaining higher education and then helping other poor students to crack competitive exams like IIT. In a similar pattern 12th Fail encompasses a true story of a young lad from a remote village in Chambal. How the path of truth strengthens his determination to get through the steps of UPSC exam to become an IPS officer is heart wrenching and inspiring.
Manoj Kumar Sharma (Vikrant Massey) flunks his 12th exam because he is unable to ‘cheat’ during writing the papers. The DSP (Priyanshu Chatterjee) gives a surprise visit to the school during board exams is the reason he and the entire class failing the 12th exams. Manoj is infatuated seeing DSP’s honesty and vouches to never cheat again. Without cheating he clears exams but in third class. As his idol being DSP, he goes to Lucknow to appear for the civil services exams but due to his luggage being stolen he reaches Delhi to appear for UPSC exams courtesy a stranger, Naval (Sanjay Bishnoi),
who too wants to become an IPS. Later they become best friends. He happens to meet a senior student (Anshuman Pushkar) who becomes his mentor. Manoj works in a library and later in a flour mill and studies for the exams. In the meanwhile he meets a girl Shraddha Joshi (Medha Shankar) and starts having feelings for her. How he achieves his goal with ups and downs forms the crux of the story.
12th Fail is inspired from a true story and sticks to the relativity and truth most of the time. The screenplay has many incidents and each character’s story has to say something or the other. In sub text it focuses on lack of political will to educate poor youth of the country, especially in the villages and small towns. Vidhu Vinod Chopra excels at his craft and gets the best out of every character. He has kept the narrative flowing. Full marks to the casting director as each and every actor has given a splendid performance. Music is good but the length of movie should have been shortened to have more effect. Vikrant Massey delivers an outstanding performance. He looks the character and brings every nuances of it on screen with ease. This must one of his best performances so far. Medha Shankar is impressive despite limited screen time. Her presence lit ups the screen especially for the central character. Sanjay Bishnoi, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Anshuman Pushkar, Geeta Agarwal and Harish Khanna as Manoj’s parents lend solid support.
12th Fail is a must watch film which passes with flying colours.
****
Keerti Kadam.