'12th Fail' review: Earnest, honest, bolstered by first-rate performances
Vikrant Massey's 12th Fail draws its story from the life of IPS Manoj Kumar Sharma and is based on Anurag Pathak's namesake book. The Vidhu Vinod Chopra directorial is confident in its approach and the storytelling is earnest without being overly melodramatic. Bolstered by surefooted performances from the entire cast, it makes for a well-rounded drama that speaks directly to perseverant civil service aspirants.
Know the story first
Massey—the film's indisputable shining star and soul—plays Sharma, who lives in a village in Chambal and has flunked class 12th. While wrestling financial depravities and challenging the corrupt authorities of his village, he chances upon Officer Dushyant Singh, whose honesty becomes his life's mantra. Deciding to become exactly like him, he travels to Delhi and eventually clears the UPSC on his last attempt.
'12th Fail's recurring motifs and their meaning
Motifs in 12th Fail are not accidental but intentional. In the first scene, Sharma's father can be seen teaching the poem "Haar Nahi Maanonga (Won't accept defeat)" to his daughter—lines that eventually define and describe Sharma's life. In another scene, ravenous hunger leads him to finish a thali within minutes, and later, it's this very insatiable hunger in life that pushes him toward success.
Subtleties and nuances help it greatly
12th Fail also derives its strength from the subtleties and nuances sprinkled at every step of the way. From Chambal's accent to the lanes of Delhi that teem with PGs and student hostels to capturing the essence of a village to encapsulating the arduous, taxing lives that civil service aspirants live daily—12th Fail is a microcosmic representation of India at its best and worst.
Massey's heart and soul have been put into this film
Massey's performance (possibly his career-best) is the oxygen that lets 12th Fail comfortably function and kick to life. He is as passionate as the storytelling, and from his accent (that he alters based on who he's speaking to) to his gait which is changed based on his surroundings, Massey has infused magic into the character. Before I knew it, I was rooting for him.
More on his performance
Guilt, anger, exasperation, perseverance—Massey breathes all these emotions onscreen, and in many scenes, he has a peculiar rage that could burn through the screen. Blessed with expressive eyes that can carry a scene on their own, Massey's portrayal of Sharma is hauntingly real. Sharma is, after all, a person whose life is tied tightly by both rage and a volatile need to transform things.
No cardboard characters, striking supporting cast members
I also found it interesting (and this is owed to VVC's experience) that even though the focus is on the central story, the supporting characters also have backstories, flaws, positive attributes, and well-rounded characterizations that humanize them. Nobody is a cardboard character and there's no jarring humor—from early on, 12th Fail is aware of the path it intends to take.
Sometimes, students become identity markers of entire cities
12th Fail also accentuates the way cities and localities cease to exist by their names and become famous, or even notorious, for the students that inhabit them: Kota, Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar, and Patna, among others. Separately, in the climax, the film cleverly plays with camera angles to dial up the intensity of the conversations, and the sequence becomes more pulsating because of this.
Negatives: Where does the movie falter?
Even though 12th Fail gives you a lot of reasons that make you endorse it, it's not untouched by hiccups. The love story track, though seemingly extracted from Sharma's real life, takes some of the spotlight away from the main story, and then the film loses its gusto and begins playing a broken record. Shortening this could have saved about 10 minutes or so.
Since the love track is there, it deserved better treatment
I also have gripes with the treatment of Sharma's girlfriend Shraddha's track. Firstly, it seems to snatch away from the film's cynosure, and secondly, considering, she, too, is a civil servant, we should have seen snippets of her journey. Instead, she only acts as a second fiddle and an "inspiration" for Sharma. An upgrade from manic pixie dream girl, sure, but not enough.
Go, catch it in the theaters!
To encapsulate, 12th Fail has a lot going in its favor, with the real-life, extremely inspirational story being the foremost reason to watch it. In the hands of someone else, perhaps, the movie could have become more melodramatic and less matter-of-fact, but Chopra's gaze at Sharma is pragmatic, not pitiful. A film that reinstates one's faith in the power of storytelling gets 3/5 stars.
