Box office: Vikrant Massey's '12th Fail' inches toward Rs. 20cr
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 12th Fail has proven it is here to stay. At a time when big-budget films led by popular actors are grasping at straws, the Vikrant Massey starrer has emerged as a surprise box office hit, and excellent word-of-mouth has helped it rake in decent numbers. Per Sacnilk, 12th Fail accumulated Rs. 3.09cr (rough data) on Saturday, inching closer to Rs. 20cr.
Why does this story matter?
12th Fail is Chopra's return to full-fledged feature direction after 2020's Shikara, a love story set against the backdrop of the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. Its most noticeable and remarkable aspect is, apart from Massey, it features no other well-known faces but has appealed to the audience despite that. Pitted against UT69 and Shastry Viruddh Shastry, among others, 12th Fail has demolished them all.
Know about source material that inspired this movie
12th Fail draws its story from the life of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma and is based on Anurag Pathak's namesake book. Originally published in Hindi, it was translated into English by Gautam Choubey and Lalit Kumar. Its tagline is: Hara Wahi Jo Lada Nahi.
Looking at '12th Fail' in numbers
Sacnilk further reported that 12th Fail experienced a big jump in terms of domestic collections (Rs. 3.09cr), with a 76.57% growth on Saturday. This is the film's second-highest single-day collection so far after Rs. 3.12cr on its third day (October 29). Sacnilk has estimated that 12th Fail might bring in Rs. 2.96cr on Sunday. Its current total earnings stand at about Rs. 17.88cr.
This is what happens in '12th Fail'
In the film, Massey plays IPS officer Sharma, who lives in a village in Chambal and has failed Class 12. Fighting financial depravities and challenging the corrupt village authorities, he chances upon police officer Dushyant Singh, whose honesty becomes his life's mantra. Deciding to become like him, he travels to Delhi and eventually clears the UPSC Civil Services Exam on his last attempt.
What Chopra revealed about '12th Fail's preparation process
While speaking to Baradwaj Rangan of Galatta Plus, Chopra recently revealed that 12th Fail was the only film that made him teary-eyed during the editing process. He added the team wanted to keep everything as raw and authentic as possible, which is why they shot in Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar instead of a set. He also heaped praise upon the leads: Massey and Medha Shankar.
